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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Under the Old Elms 



MARY B. CLAFLIN 



AUTHOR OF " BRAMPTON SKETCHES," " PERSONAL REC- 
OLLECTIONS OF JOHN G. WHITTIER," 
" REAL HAPPENINGS " 




\ 

£ast Fourteenth Street 



New York : 46 East 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMF 

Boston : 100 Purchase Street 



K 






Copyright, 1895, 
By T. Y. Crowell & Company. 



TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, 
BOSTON. 



TO HIM 

WHOSE OPEN-HEARTED HOSPITALITY 

AND UNSWERVING LOYALTY 

TO HOME AND FRIENDS AND COUNTRY 

MADE "THE OLD ELMS" 

A DELIGHT TO ITS INMATES, 

THESE MEMORIES 

OF HAPPY DAYS SPENT THERE 

ARE DEDICATED. 



UNDER THE OLD ELMS. 



I. 



UNDER THE OLD ELMS. 

" As if to music they had grown, 

Stately and fair the elms uprise, 
Their swaying shadows earthward thrown, 

Their tops rejoicing in the skies. 
What life and death, what love and pain, 

What nights of gloom and days of gold, 
Have passed beneath their leafy reign ! 

Yet still their ancient pride they hold, 
Still tower o'er roof and slope and plain, 

And link the new years to the old." 

For two hundred years the elms 
have been growing on a grassy bank 
in Newton, Massachusetts. Harps for 
the winds, they have thrilled to the 
breath of June, or bent in the blasts 



Under the Old Elms. 



of December. Homes for the birds, 
they have rocked the nests of the 
robin and the oriole, whose songs 
echo through their sylvan paradise. 
The lawn they shadow is broad and 
green, and at its farther side a low 
wall separates it from the village street. 
Through it there runs a brook with 
pleasant ripple and flow, crossing the 
field beyond to be lost in the Charles 
River two miles away. There grow 
the earliest flowers of spring, — violets, 
anemones, hepaticas, to be followed 
by buttercups and daisies, and, in their 
season, by clusters of golden-rod and 
purple asters. 

The place is said to have been a part 
of the Newton estate of Governor Si- 
mon Bradstreet, from whom it passed 
eventually to the Fuller family. That 
the region has been long settled is 



Under the Old Elms. 



shown by the fact that the homestead 
near it has been in the possession 
of one family for two hundred years. 
Judge Fuller, whose farm a century ago 
comprised nearly the whole of what is 
now the village of Newtonville, cul- 
tivated the fruitful acres ; and on 
Thanksgiving Day, when his children 
and grandchildren were gathered about 
the ancestral board, beneath the old 
elms, he was wont to say with satis- 
faction, " My dear children, I hope 
you realize that every article of food 
before you was raised on this farm." 

And there was no lack of variety, 
with the plump turkey, the geese, 
ducks, and chickens, the cranberry tart- 
let, the popcorn, the sweet cider, the 
hickory nuts that grew by the brook, 
and the chestnuts that ripened on the 
hillside. 



Under the Old Elms. 



There stood on a ridge near the 
house a group of great chestnut-trees, 
so ancient and storm-beaten that prob- 
ably they were bearing fruit when the 
Mayflower sailed into Plymouth har- 
bor in 162O0 Of the magnificent elm 
whose branches overspread the house, 
and whose trunk, because of its un- 
usual size and fine proportions, has 
been reverenced by his successors for 
generations, he used to tell this little 
story to his grandchildren : — 

"Before the time of carriages, I was 
riding to church, two miles distant, 
one pleasant Sunday morning ; and my 
horse, beginning like his master to 
feel the encroachments of age, was not 
disposed to trot. Fearing the parson 
would have finished his opening exer- 
cises before I should reach the corner 
of the great square pew where he 



Under the Old Elms, 



always looked to see me, and from 
which I was seldom absent, I alighted 
and broke from a tree by the 
roadside a small elm sapling, which 
would serve as an incentive to old 
Dobbin to hasten his steps. The 
sapling I stuck in the saddle as I 
hitched the horse under the meeting- 
house shed ; and I brought it home 
with me. When I rode up to the door, 
your grandmother, my good wife, as 
was her custom, stood waiting for me ; 
and I said, 'Wife, I am going to put 
this little sapling in the ground ; it 
may shade our grandchildren.' " 

The sapling, nine feet above the 
grassy knoll on which it stands, now 
measures eighteen feet in circumfer- 
ence. Many years ago a great tor- 
nado stripped it of its upper branches; 
but this loss gave it new life. To-day 



Under the Old Elms, 



it is as strong and vigorous and thrifty 
as it is picturesque and venerable. 

General William Hull, who married 
the daughter of Judge Fuller, had 
served with credit in the Revolution- 
ary War. In the War of 1812 he 
was made governor of Michigan, and 
was placed in charge of the forts at 
Detroit. On account of the very in- 
adequate garrison and the insufficient 
equipment in every way, he felt com- 
pelled to surrender the fort to the 
British, for which he was tried by 
court-martial, and condemned to be 
shot ; but the president, in considera- 
tion of his faithful service in the 
Revolutionary War, pardoned him. 
This surrender was made as a human- 
itarian act, and at the risk of forfeit- 
ing his military fame. He returned, 



Under the Old Elms. 



crestfallen and heartsore, to spend the 
remainder of his days at the old home- 
stead. 

General Hull was a graduate of 
Yale. He was a soldier for ten years, 
associating with Washington and his 
generals. His manners were a fine 
mingling of those of the soldier, the 
courtier, and the man of the world. 
He was a scientific and successful far- 
mer ; and when he came back to the 
estate he was as much at home among' 
the farmers of Newton as he had been 
in other days with generals, governors, 
and presidents. 

Mrs. Hull was a handsome woman, 
with the same easy manners as her 
husband, having associated with Mrs. 
Washington, Mrs. Knox, and other 
ladies. She had a peculiar hobby of 
buying at auctions; and the attic of 



8 Under the Old Elms. 



the house was a museum filled with the 
most remarkable things, from a church 
window to a lot of coffin-plates, as use- 
less as the green spectacles of Moses 
Primrose. The house was always full 
from attic to cellar. She always had 
a band of retainers of all colors and 
races in and about the big kitchen. 
Among these was a colored man named 
" Othello," called Tillo for short. His 
father had given him when a boy to 
Mrs. Hull until he should become of 
age. When General Hull set him at 
liberty and gave him money to start, 
he went as far as Watertown and then 
returned to the house, considering him- 
self one of the family, and he always 
remained with them. 

General Hull's name was always 
spoken with respect and reverence by 
the village folk, and he was honored 



Under the Old Elms. 



all through the country-side for his 
gentlemanly bearing and his kindly 
consideration for those about him. He 
felt keenly the disgrace that followed 
his action at Detroit, and mingled little 
with the outside world, spending his 
time in cultivating the land, and intro- 
ducing new and improved methods of 
agriculture, and in adorning the place. 
Wishing to irrigate and beautify his 
estate, he diverted the brook from its 
original course as it ran from the lake 
above, thus diminishing the water 
which fed a small mill lower down the 
stream. This made trouble with the 
mill, and the mill-owner appealed to 
the law. General Hull took the ground 
that agriculture was of the first impor- 
tance, and that he had a right to use 
the water for agricultural purposes. 
The court decided that he had the 



io Under the Old Elms. 



right to use the water, but not to in- 
terfere with the rights of others. All 
had equal rights, and the grinding of 
the corn for the use of mankind was 
as much a necessity as the raising of 
the corn ; hence the miller won his 
case, and General Hull was compelled 
to turn the brook back to its original 
channel. All the laws of the State 
concerning water-ways and mill-privi- 
leges are based upon the decision of 
the courts at that time. 

The village grew slowly in General 
Hull's day. From his home under the 
elms to the track where the trains now 
run a hundred times a day, there was 
not a house ; and when the whistle of 
the engine was first heard on the 
Boston & Albany Railroad, long after 
General Hull had passed away, where 
now stands the picturesque, vine-clad 



Under the Old Elms. n 



depot and the populous village, there 
was only a flag-station, called Hull's 
Crossing. General Hull was gathered 
to his fathers in the year 1825 ; and in 
making some repairs in the vault where 
he was laid, it was found that the 
body of Judge Fuller, which had been 
buried many years, had become pet- 
rified, and was in perfect form and 
condition, except a slight change in 
color. This circumstance was a mat- 
ter of great interest to the medical 
men and scientists of the time. 

During the Revolutionary War, Gen- 
eral Hull for a time had served under 
La Fayette, at Whitemarsh and Mon- 
mouth. In 1824, when the Marquis 
revisited this country, he came to see 
the General. When the two met, 
the Marquis, with French effusiveness, 
kissed General Hull, and said with 



i2 Under the Old Elms. 



feeling, " We have both suffered much 
from calumny." General Hull's chil- 
dren and grandchildren were presented 
to the Marquis ; and finally, with a part- 
ing embrace, the two old comrades-in- 
arms bade each other an affectionate 
and last farewell. 

The old, rambling house which had 
stood for nearly a century under the 
elms, and where were preserved the 
horns of the deer that was shot by 
Judge Fuller from the doorstep of 
his mansion, was removed after Gen- 
eral Hull's death to the village that 
was growing up at Hull's Crossing ; 
and there it stands, a monument of 
the early time when it was the centre 
of all the activities of the town. The 
elderly people talk to this day of the 
events which occurred in the "good old 



Under the Old Elms. 13 



time" at the Hull mansion. Old Tillo, 
the colored man who always attended 
General Hull, insisted that ghosts wan- 
dered through the house at night, and 
that the festivities of the family were 
often disturbed by uncanny sights and 
sounds. Be this as it may, the old 
mansion was the scene of many a frolic 
when the children and grandchildren 
of the third and fourth generations 
gathered, and made the rafters ring 
with their mirth; while Tillo used his 
fiddle and his bow to the tune of 
"Money-Musk," "The Fisher's Horn- 
pipe," and other merry strains. 

The elms stood in their lonely gran- 
deur, and the brook rippled along its 
way undisturbed, until the year 1855, 
when the estate was purchased by the 
present occupant, and the house erected 
that now stands on the very spot from 



i4 Under the Old Elms. 



which the former was removed. But 
I sometimes fancy the same birds sing 
their morning songs (in no other trees 
do they sing so sweetly), the same 
frogs croak their evening discords, the 
same crickets chirp their friendly, 
cheerful tunes as we sit in the twi- 
light on the doorstep, where used to 
sit Governor Bradstreet, Judge Ful- 
ler, General Hull, and all the goodly 
company that called the old mansion 
"home." 



Under the Old Elms. 



II. 

During our occupancy of the place, 
we were fortunate in having such a 
number of interesting people, many 
of whom are no longer on earth, to 
sojourn with us under the elms, or to 
make brief visits there, that it has 
seemed to me a pleasant thing to re- 
cord some of my memories of them. 

Among the first to help us dedicate 
the new abode, came Mrs. Stowe and 
her brother, Henry Ward Beecher; 
and as we looked out on a bright morn- 
ing from the doorstep, over the green 
lawn, they said, "The place is worthy 
of a name ; let us christen it here 
and now ! " Various names were sug- 



1 6 Under the Old Elms, 



gested, but none seemed exactly to 
fit ; until Mrs. Stowe exclaimed with 
enthusiasm, "How magnificent the old 
elms are ! " Mr. Beecher immediately 
took up the strain, and added, "We 
have it ! the place shall be called, ' The 
Old Elms ! ' " and so it has been desig- 
nated for forty years. 

The Reverend James Freeman Clarke 
was a grandson of General Hull, and 
many hours of his boyhood were spent 
under "The Old Elms." He was fa- 
miliar with every tree and shrub and 
rock, and knew where the orioles hung 
their nests, and where were the squir- 
rels' hiding-places. Some of the hap- 
piest hours of his later life were spent 
in wandering over the paths of his 
youth, and in recalling the scenes 
where he and his brother had "played 



Under the Old Elms. 17 



soldier" under the direction of their 
grandfather, for whom they had great 
reverence. Dr. Clarke wrote an able 
and elaborate vindication of his grand- 
father, which, I think, convinced every 
fair-minded person of the wisdom of 
General Hull's course at Detroit. One 
of the pleasures to which we looked 
forward was the annual visit of Dr. 
Clarke. He was full of reminiscences ; 
there was an anecdote about every 
nook and corner ; and there, as no- 
where else, he could lay aside his bur- 
dens and forget his cares, and revel in 
the memories of his happy childhood. 
There he always brought the members 
of his family, who lived in a distant 
State; and they wandered up and 
down the brookside where joyous hours 
had been spent in dropping the line for 
trout and pickerel, or in seeking for 



1 8 Under the Old Elms, 



birds' nests in the overhanging trees. 
One day there was music under the 
elms when Dr. Clarke drove up the 
avenue, and he was asked if he en- 
joyed music. His reply was, "I have 
not much interest in music. I think 
if I had one more interest it would 
have the effect of the last feather on 
the camel's back." 

I replied, " It has always been a 
regret to me that I cannot sing or 
make music in any form." 

" Neither can I," said Dr. Clarke ; 
"let us shake hands and agree to 
sing a duet in heaven." 

Among the wise sayings in Tupper's 
"Proverbial Philosophy" we find, in his 
opinion, that no family is complete 
without a grandmother and a baby. 
Providence supplied both to " The Old 



Under the Old Elms. 19 



Elms." The grandmother there was 
a typical old-fashioned New England 
woman, full of activity and abounding 
energy. She kept up all the old-time 
traditions, and told the stories of old- 
time life, and was the delight of the 
young people who frequented the house. 
Knitting was her favorite employment ; 
and nothing would induce her to cast 
the stitches for a new stocking on 
Friday, or to start on a journey on 
that day, for good luck never attended 
anything that was started on Friday ; 
and as for sitting down to a table with 
thirteen, she said she would sooner be 
drawn and quartered, for some one 
would surely die before the year ended 
should that be done. The crowing of 
the cock, the cackling of the hens, and 
the spinning of a spider's web on the 
grass, were signs and omens of some- 



20 Under the Old Elms. 



thing that was going to happen for 
good or ill. She told the stories of 
her youth with so much zest that the 
children preferred her room above all 
others, and they were never tired of 
hearing of the hardships and the frolics 
of the days about which she delighted 
to talk. She would tell them of riding 
on a pillion to a neighboring town to 
attend the balls, which began at five 
o'clock in the afternoon, and did not 
end until the " break o' day " the next 
morning. The great event of her life, 
which the children asked her often to 
repeat, was a journey which she took 
in her youth with her parents. They 
were six weeks travelling from Massa- 
chusetts to the wilderness of Rome 
and Utica, "in York State," where 
there were only native Indians dressed 
in blankets and feathers, with scalping- 



Under the Old Elms, 



knives, and from whom the children 
had to hide away. When she came 
back to Massachusetts she married a 
young physician who afterward became 
famous ; and while he followed his pro- 
fession, she lived her busy life, taking 
care of the farm, and entertaining the 
guests and patients who came from far 
and near to seek advice from the good 
doctor. She was as noted for her 
thrift and energy in managing affairs as 
he for his skill in treating his patients. 
Late in her life, after he had finished 
his earthly career, she left the home in 
the small New England village where 
she had lived all her married life, and 
came to dwell under the old elms. On 
her seventy-seventh birthday she was 
baptized there, and became a mem- 
ber of the same church where Judge 
Fuller and General Hull had wor- 



22 Under the Old Elms. 



shipped nearly a century before. She 
remained with us, the light and joy of 
the family circle at " The Old Elms," 
until she was ninety, when she went 
to join the innumerable company with 
whom she had walked the journey of 
life. 

The first great shadow that fell over 
" The Old Elms," during our residence 
there, was the departure of a dear little 
boy, who for five years had been the 
delight of all who looked into his 
luminous eyes, and heard his bird-like 
voice. He had said of a little cousin 
whom he saw lying in his casket for 
burial, "That little head will have a 
crown on it, and those little hands will 
have a harp in them ; " so when the 
angel came a few months later for him, 
his one thought of death was that it 



Under the Old Elms. 23 

would bring him a harp and a crown. 
His going away changed the whole 
current of life there, and thenceforth 
every storm and blast of winter, every 
flower and shrub and blade of grass, 
every zephyr and bird-song, spoke to 
the mother's heart of the blessed child. 
It was in this time of loss and loneli- 
ness that Dr. S. F. Smith, whose home 
was in the neighborhood, came as an 
angel of mercy to comfort with his 
tender sympathy the stricken hearts. 
Then began a friendship which has 
lasted through all the years. If any 
event of special interest occurred in 
the family, whether of joy or sorrow, 
some sympathetic poem of his was 
sure to find its way to the hearts under 
"The Old Elms." One morning, after 
a stormy night, came this sweet mes- 
sage : — 



24 Under the Old Elms. 



" I listened in the evening to the sighing of the 

gale, 
I watched the heaping snowdrifts, and heard the 

rattling hail; 
And I thought with grateful spirit, * what a glorious 

God is ours, 
So mighty in the tempest, so gentle in the 

flowers ' ! 
And I saw within the darkness, in the paths that 

mortals tread, 
In the land of grief and parting, of the mourning 

and the dead, 
How God, with loving mercy softening the painful 

blow, 
Leaves joy to gild our sorrow, like flowers in time 

of snow." 

Dr. Smith's visits at "The Old 
Elms " were always looked forward to 
with pleasure by old and young, for 
he never came without leaving some 
agreeable memory. One day on look- 
ing at some beautiful flowers, a lady 
said, "Will there be anything in heaven 
more beautiful ? " Ouick as thought 



Under the Old Elms. 25 



the reply came, " There everlasting 
Spring abides, and never-withering flow- 
ers." His lips were always ready to 
give expression to the poetry which 
was in his heart. At a large reception 
one day, Dr. Smith's poetic fervor was 
kindled by some expression of the lady 
with whom he was conversing, and all 
at once there was a lull in the conver- 
sation, and an almost audible smile on 
every countenance ; Dr. Smith had be- 
come oblivious of his surroundings, 
and had thrown himself on his knees 
before the lady, and was pouring forth 
some exquisite lines which had at that 
moment fired his soul. 

Dr. Holmes once said of him, " I 
thought I was as bright as Smith 
when we were in college together, 
but Smith has gone far beyond me. 
Smith's 'America' is sung on every 



26 Under the Old Elms. 



mountain-top, in mid-ocean, and in 
the darkest mines ; and will continue 
to be sung as long as our country 
endures. It opens or closes every 
patriotic festival, and is familiar in 
every schoolroom throughout the coun- 
try. Smith's hymn is known where- 
ever America is known. To write a 
hymn that is sung with enthusiasm 
by seventy millions of people over 
this broad continent, and in every 
land 0:1 the globe, is what I call 
fame." 

Dear Dr. Smith! Of all those of 
his generation who used to tread the 
paths under "The Old Elms," he 
alone is left. 

One pleasant summer's day Mr. 
Whittier, Mrs. Stowe, and Mrs. Bailey, 
wife of the editor of The National Era, 



Under the Old Elms. 27 



the paper in which " Uncle Tom's 
Cabin " was first published, met at 
"The Old Elms." Was it not a rare 
trio? — the three people who had more 
to do with the overthrow of slavery 
than any other three in the whole 
country, — Mr. Whittier, with his soul- 
stirring poems ; and Mrs. Stowe, whose 
story has gone everywhere and been 
translated into more languages than 
any other book except the Bible ; and 
Dr. Bailey, the gentlemanly and schol- 
arly editor of The National Era, to 
whom belongs the credit of daring to 
publish an anti-slavery paper in the 
midst of a community where slavery 
was cherished as a divine institution, 
and where the highest powers of the 
land were legislating to uphold and ex- 
tend the system that cursed our fair 
country. Dr. Bailey's home in Wash- 



28 Under the Old Elms. 



ington was the social centre of the lead- 
ing progressive men from every part 
of the country. At his Saturday even- 
ing receptions one was sure to meet 
Chief Justice Chase, Charles Sumner, 
Henry Wilson, Joshua Giddings, and 
many others. 

Mrs. Stowe was often one of the 
company ; and in such a gathering 
there was much brilliant conversation, 
and many a wise plan was formed for 
the overthrow of slavery. Sumner 
often remarked that the lack of social 
life among the New England people in 
Washington was to be deplored : " For," 
he said, "more plans were made, and 
more political intrigues matured, around 
the dinner-tables of the Southern 
politicians than ever the cool-headed, 
hard-working, honest Northerners con- 
ceived." 



Under the Old Elms. 29 

Dr. Bailey's drawing-room was the 
only place where the leading pro- 
gressive men from the North and 
West could meet the leaders of ad- 
vanced thought in Congress. Mr. 
Whittier was editor of The National 
Era with Dr. Bailey, at the time 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published. 



30 Under the Old Elms. 



III. 

Henry Wilson spent much time at 
"The Old Elms." It was the rest- 
ing-place where he found congenial 
companionship, and where he could 
lay aside his harassing cares. He 
was a hard-working, fearless man in 
Congress ; and the threatening atti- 
tude of his Southern antagonists made 
his position in Washington anything 
but comfortable. 

Mr. Sumner and Mr. Wilson were 
in perfect accord in politics, and were 
close friends. Sometimes when they 
met at " The Old Elms," it was inter- 
esting to note the contrast in the two 
men : Sumner was always stately and 



Under the Old Elms. 31 



dignified, while Mr. Wilson was care- 
less in his language in ordinary conver- 
sation. He often said, " Sumner is in 
agony when I rise to speak in the 
Senate, for fear Massachusetts will be 
disgraced by my bad grammar." 

Mr. Sumner said, "Do you think 
Wilson will murder the king's English 
when he is in England as he does 
here ? " But, strange to say, careless 
as Mr. Wilson was in every-day life, and 
forgetful as he was of social etiquette 
and requirements, he rarely made 
a grammatical error in his public 
speeches ; and he commanded as much 
respect and attention in the Senate as 
any man who lifted his voice in that 
august assembly. He was most enter- 
taining in conversation ; and no man 
had a better knowledge of the political 
situation of the country than he. It 



32 Under the Old Elms. 



must be remembered that Mr. Wilson 
had no advantages of family, and, in his 
youth, none of society or education. 1 
He never went to school, and he had 
only the light of a pine knot to read 
by until after he was twenty-one years 
of age. 

His twenty-first birthday occurred 
on a Saturday ; and the hard-fisted 
old man with whom he had spent most 
of his life, and whom he had faithfully 
served, told him that he could remain 
over Sunday in his house by pay- 
ing fifty cents. Mr. Sumner had had 
every advantage of family and position, 
education and travel, and his mind was 
stored with knowledge on almost all 
subjects. 

1 Mr. Wilson might have said with Gerald Massey : 
" Having had to earn my own dear bread by the eternal 
cheapening of flesh and blood thus early, I never knew 
what childhood was." 



Under the Old Elms. 33 



The two senators met one morning 
at breakfast ; and Mr. Wilson (having 
just arrived from his first and only visit 
to Europe), displayed some lace he had 
bought in Liverpool of a woman who 
had made the poor, unsophisticated 
man believe it was something very 
choice. In truth, it was the coarsest 
cotton lace that could be made. 

Naturally, after this display, the con- 
versation at the morning meal fell upon 
lace ; and Mr. Sumner discoursed for an 
hour on the different qualities of lace, 
— where the finest might be found, 
where the choicest bits of old altar- 
lace were preserved, what kind of 
lace Lady So-and-So wore when he 
dined with her at Lord Palmerston's, 
and what was the quality of Ma- 
dame Thiers's lace when he dined 
with the president of the French Re- 



34 Under the Old Elms. 



public. Mr. Wilson's lace disappeared 
from sight, and never again came to 
notice. 

Mr. Sumner's great versatility was 
shown in his conversation one evening 
at "The Old Elms," when he met there 
a club of gentlemen who had come to- 
gether for the purpose of discussing 
the merits of Jersey cattle, the best 
breeds to import, etc. I was appalled 
when he arrived unexpectedly ; for I 
thought surely he could not know 
about cattle, or have any interest in 
the purposes for which the club had 
come together. What was my surprise 
to find that he was conversant with all 
the breeds of cattle in Europe, that he 
knew about the methods of raising and 
treating them, and which were consid- 
ered the most profitable for importa- 
tion, and much concerning the different 



Under the Old Elms. 35 



brands of cheese and of butter. He en- 
tertained the club the whole evening. 

Some of the gentlemen were politi- 
cally opposed to Mr. Sumner; but at 
the close of the evening they were all 
ready to vote for him for President of 
the United States. I remember a de- 
lightful visit from Mr. Sumner, when 
he spent most of the time describing 
President Thiers's manner of entertain- 
ing his guests. He told every smallest 
detail, — the arrangement of the table; 
who were the guests ; how they were 
seated ; how Madame Thiers conversed, 
and how courteous her husband's man- 
ner was toward her ; and how the Pres- 
ident at the close of the dinner gathered 
his guests around him as he sat upon 
the sofa in the salon, and rehearsed the 
speech he was to make the next day 
in the French Assembly. "Thus," said 



$6 Under the Old Elms. 



Mr. Sumner, " taking advantage of any 
suggestion or criticism that might be 
made before he gave the speech to the 
public." 

Mr. Sumner remarked one morning, 
when he was full of reminiscences, " I 
can never forget how very courteous 
and cordial Lord Palmerston was to me 
personally, and how extremely cold and 
unresponsive he was to my subject. I 
called on him (it was at the beginning 
of the war) for the purpose of explain- 
ing our position in the United States, 
and the attitude of the North toward 
the South. He listened coldly, and 
my remarks were entirely unavailing. 
It was with him as with most English 
statesmen, though there were a few 
noble exceptions — Cobden was a firm 
friend of the North, as was John Bright, 
all through our contest with the South. 



Under the Old Elms. 37 



A friend on his return from England 
gave us an account of his interview 
with Cobden. He said, " I called one 
morning and asked Mr. Cobden if he 
were sufficiently interested in the af- 
fairs of our country to give me a 
little time. Cobden replied, 'Inter- 
ested, Sir ! My God, I cannot sleep 
at night for interest ! ' " 

Mr. Sumner believed that unity and 
good-will among fellow-citizens could 
only be assured through oblivion of 
past differences ; and to this end he in- 
troduced the following resolutions in 
Congress : — 

Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Re- 
presentatives of the United States in Con- 
gress assembled : — 
That the names of battles with fellow-citizens 

shall not be contained in the Army Registers or 

placed on the regimental colors of the United 

States. 



38 Under the Old Elms. 



For his action in this regard he was 
severely criticised, and received a vote 
of censure from the Legislature of 
Massachusetts. I well remember, in 
an after-visit, his great distress, as he 
paced the room, turning back his 
massive locks and wiping the perspira- 
tion from his brow, saying, " Have you 
any reason to think Massachusetts 
will ever rescind that vote ? " News 
that the Legislature had decided to 
blot out the obnoxious vote which had 
caused him and his friends so much 
pain, came to him just before his 
death. He had exclaimed in his agony, 
"When I am dead justice will not be 
denied me." It was a matter of grati- 
tude to his friends that he had the 
satisfaction of knowing justice was 
done to him by his beloved State while 
he yet lived. His terrible physical 



Under the Old Elms, 39 



suffering after the brutal attack of 
Brooks in the Senate Chamber did not 
equal his mental torture when the vote 
of censure was passed upon him by the 
Massachusetts legislature. This was 
the bitterest trial of his political life. 

Mr. Wilson had given his whole 
thought and energy to the condition 
of the country, and, first of all, to 
the overthrow of slavery ; and when 
he became an invalid (he was stricken 
with paralysis soon after the close of 
the war), his habits of life were so fixed 
and had taken such strong hold upon 
him that it was beyond the power of 
those who sought to amuse him to in- 
terest him in a game or a story. He 
could not find diversion except in his 
chosen line, and his physicians advised 
him to put aside all work. He wished 



40 Under the Old Elms. 



to try every school of medicine, and 
not a quack advertisement escaped his 
notice. Going one day to a person 
who had advertised to cure every dis- 
ease that flesh is heir to, he came back 
to the family greatly amused, saying, — 
" My new doctor said, ' There was 
a man in to see me yesterday who 
told me you was of some consequence, 
and I must cure you ; now I want to 
know who you be, and where you put 
up. You ought to have very nourish- 
ing provender.' I told the doctor I 
had been stopping with Governor Claf- 
lin. ' Well, now,' said he, * I want to 
know if you get enough to eat there. 
You must have good, wholesome food, 
and enough of it. I've been to them 
big houses where I couldn't get half 
enough to eat ; they put on little 
messes, and not enough of anything 



Under the Old Elms. 41 



to satisfy a man. Such kind of liv- 
ing, I tell you, won't answer for 
you.'" 

On Mr. Wilson's return from the 
doctor's that day we were reminded 
of Pope's definition of fame: — 

"What's fame? 
A fancied life in others' breath, 
A thing beyond us e'en before our death." 

This "doctor" experimented for a 
while to no purpose, and Mr. Wilson 
looked for the next quack, often tak- 
ing the nostrums of three or four at 
a time. 

During Mr. Wilson's illness a great 
number of letters were received from 
every part of the country, showing 
the high esteem in which he was 
held by people of every shade of poli- 
tics, and by men of the South whom 
he had bitterly opposed in the Senate ; 



42 Under the Old Elms, 



even by those who had threatened his 
life. When he was stricken, and felt 
that he was face to face with death, 
almost his first coherent remark was, 
"I have no ill-will against any man, 
and I don't know that any one has 
any ill-will toward me." As he rallied 
from the first attack, the unrest which 
usually follows in such cases took pos- 
session of him, and it was touching 
then to see Mr. Sumner's tender in- 
terest in him. He wrote repeatedly 
from the Senate Chamber to the 
friends at "The Old Elms," — - " Take 
good care of Wilson. Watch him, and 
do not let him expose himself." But 
the friends who would gladly have 
served him found themselves helpless. 
It was difficult to keep him from the 
hands of charlatans and quacks, and 
it was pathetic to see him wandering 



Under the Old Elms, 43 



from place to place in search of rest. 
When Mr. Sumner was seized with his 
last illness, Mr. Wilson started for 
Washington as soon as he heard the 
news. Entirely unfit for such a jour- 
ney, his friends were obliged to take 
him, almost by force, back to his home. 

Henry Wilson sleeps in the quiet 
burial ground at Natick ; but his 
works do follow him. 

Mr. Whittier's noble tribute to him 
is so just and true that I cannot for- 
bear quoting some of its stanzas : — 

" The lowliest born of all the land, 
He wrung from Fate's reluctant hand 

The gifts which happier boyhood claims; 
And, tasting on a thankless soil 
The bitter bread of unpaid toil, 

He fed his soul with noble aims. 

By the low hearth-fire's fitful blaze 
He read of old heroic days, 

The sage's thought, the patriot's speech: 



44 Under the Old Elms. 



Unhelped, alone, himself he taught; 
His school, the craft at which he wrought, 
His lore, the book within his reach. 

He felt his country's need; he knew 
The work her children had to do; 

And when, at last, he heard the call 
In her behalf to serve and dare, 
Beside his senatorial chair 

He stood the unquestioned peer of all. 

How wise, how brave he was, how well 
He bore himself, let history tell. 

While waves our flag o'er land and sea 
No black thread in its warp or weft! 
He found dissevered states ; he left 

A grateful nation strong and free!" 



Under the Old Elms, 45 



IV. 

Mrs. Stowe and Mr. Whittier were 
congenial spirits, and their favorite 
amusement when they chanced to be 
together at " The Old Elms " was tell- 
ing ghost stories. The members of the 
family, and whatever other guests were 
present, were ready to throw aside 
every occupation and pastime to listen 
to their marvellous tales of ghosts and 
goblins. Those days will live in the 
memory of all who were fortunate 
enough to hear from their lips stories 
of rappings and ghostly visitations, and 
of music from the spirit land. Mr. 
Whittier would smite his knee, as was 
his custom when anything pleased him, 



46 Under the Old Elms, 



and Mrs. Stowe's merry laugh would 
echo through the house. They would 
sit up till the small hours of the morn- 
ing, and until the lights burned blue, 
to rehearse the most unlikely tales, as 
if they believed them all. 

Henry Ward Beecher often met his 
sister, Mrs. Stowe, at "The Old Elms;" 
and many a battle they fought on the 
croquet ground in the shade of the 
trees. They would play in a pouring 
rain, and when the darkness of night 
overtook them so that lanterns were 
necessary to enable them to see the 
wickets and the balls ; often becoming 
so absorbed in their game that they 
were unmindful of everything around 
them. On one occasion an old friend 
of their father's called, and expressed 
a great desire to see the children of 
his revered friend, Dr. Lyman Beecher. 



Under the Old Elms. 47 



A message was sent to the field of 
contest, informing them that their 
father's friend desired to see them. 
They paid no attention to the call ; and 
soon a second message was sent, beg- 
ging them to throw aside their mallets 
and come in. Meanwhile, the hostess 
talked against time, trying to divert 
the aged visitor as best she could, until 
a third request was sent, with like re- 
sult ; when the gentleman reluctantly 
rose, saying his train would be soon 
due, and he should be obliged to take 
his leave. Soon after he left, the two 
culprits came slowly up the path to the 
piazza, wiping their faces, and arguing 
briskly about the position of the balls ; 
each contending vigorously that he or 
she would have obtained the victory if 
the other had not hit the ball so-and-so. 

An older sister of Mrs. Stowe's, who 



48 Under the Old Elms. 



was sitting with the family on the 
piazza, and who was more practical, 
and less inclined to lose herself in cro- 
quet and billiards, remarked as Mrs. 
Stowe approached, " Sister Hattie, I 
am ashamed of you ; I never was so 
provoked with you in my life." In 
the meekest possible tone, Mrs. Stowe 
said, "Why, Sister Mary, what have 
I done ? " Sister Mary's eyes snapped 
when she said, " You have insulted our 
father's old friend and Mrs. C. ; and 
we have sat in tortures, racking our 
brains to cover up your rudeness and 
brother Henry's ; and finally the old 
man departed, grieved and injured with 
the conduct of the revered Dr. Beech- 
er's recreant offspring." 

" I am so sorry, sister Mary ; I 
would not for the world injure any- 
body's feelings ; do you really think 



Under the Old Elms. 49 



pa's friend felt aggrieved ? " " Brother 
Henry " hid himself behind a newspa- 
per, leaving Mrs. Stowe to fight out the 
battle, and soothed sister Mary's feel- 
ings, by reminding her that she looked 
very handsome when she was mad. 

Mrs. Stowe had the power of with- 
drawing from everything except the 
one thing on her mind which wholly 
engrossed her for the time being. She 
could not be diverted from the idea 
that had taken possession of her. Her 
spirit seemed to leave the body in a 
most remarkable way. I have known 
her to wander from room to room, 
humming softly to herself, seeming un- 
conscious of everything about her, as 
if she were in a trance ; and then, as 
though she had been communing with 
some spirit * from another sphere, she 
would burst into eloquent language, a 



50 Under the Old Elms. 



divine rhapsody, and entrance those 
around her with what she had seen and 
heard. She lived apparently more in 
the upper air than in a world of action ; 
and she always said, " I did not write 
' Uncle Tom's Cabin ; ' I was only the 
instrument through which it was given 
to the world." 

Her conversations with her brother 
at the hour of morning devotions were 
inspiring beyond any thing I have ever 
listened to. On one occasion, when 
she was soaring in the clouds, she 
all at once burst into an ecstasy 
and said, " When I laid my head 
upon my pillow last night, one thought 
took possession of me, and I could 
not close my eyes through the long 
night watches. It was this, 'Jesus 
Christ has lived and died, and what is 
all the world beside?'" And then, 



Under the Old Elms. 51 

as if inspired, she talked of heavenly 
sights and sounds. 

Mrs. Stowe had an enthusiastic love 
for flowers, and a marvellous gift for 
reproducing them. When she was 
visiting "The Old Elms" she ran out 
one morning regardless of the pouring 
rain, and gathered a large bunch of 
nasturtiums, which she put so deftly 
upon canvas that we hold the picture 
as one of our choicest treasures. She 
loved the birds and the animals about 
the place ; and on one occasion when 
she was coming to visit me, she wrote 
that she wished me to be prepared 
to receive a cat which she should 
bring with her. She was on her way 
from Concord; and she said the cat 
had been educated in Concord, and 
that it had Emersonian tendencies, 
and she hoped, therefore, that it 



52 Under the Old Elms. 



would be hospitably received and en- 
tertained. 

The clergymen of the neighborhood 
were accustomed to meet in the bowl- 
ing-alley, and the excitement often ran 
high between the Wesleyans on the 
one side and the Calvinists on the 
other. There was, however, no dis- 
tinction of persons or creeds at "The 
Old Elms," and the balls rolled as im- 
partially for the Calvinists as they did 
for the Wesleyans. 

On an occasion when Henry Ward 
Beecher was visiting " The Old Elms," 
I thought, it would be a pleasant 
surprise to the distinguished preacher 
if I invited some of the clergy in 
our neighborhood to meet him ; but 
it proved to be an inauspicious time. 
The preachers came, but the lion of 



Under the Old Elms. 53 



the evening was not disposed to roar. 
He retired to the library, where some 
of the bolder clergy followed him, one 
of whom ventured to ask him what was 
his method of preparing his sermons. 
Mr. Beecher's reply almost upset the 
poor country divine, who spent much 
of the week on his sermons, and was 
quite used up by Saturday night, as 
he said, " I prepare my morning ser- 
mon Sunday morning after breakfast, 
and my evening sermon after dinner." 
One of the clergy, somewhat at a 
loss for conversation, broke out sud- 
denly with this question, which would 
have been proper enough in the pri- 
vacy of his own study, " Brother, 
what is the state of religion in your 
church ? " The " brother " was indis- 
posed to discuss the state of religion 
in his church then and there, and 



54 Under the Old Elms. 



at once turned the conversation to 
flowers and trees, in which he always 
delighted. 

Mr. Beecher, the most genial and 
sympathetic of men, had moods in 
which he was withdrawn from all 
about him, and as inaccessible as an 
unsealed mountain peak. Unfortunate, 
then, were those who through igno- 
rance or daring presumed to intrude 
upon him. 



Under the Old Elms, 55 



Mrs. Stowe loved " The Old Elms ; " 
and when Messrs. Houghton and Mif- 
flin, her publishers, proposed celebrat- 
ing her seventieth birthday, she 
thought it would be pleasant to have 
the fete on the lawn there. Accord- 
ingly on the 1 2th of June, 1882, a goodly 
company assembled to honor the mod- 
est woman, who had become famous 
among all English-speaking people on 
both sides of the Atlantic. A large 
tent was spread on the lawn under 
the elms, and never did a more nota- 
ble company gather together. Every 
one who had written a book or sung a 
song came to do her homage. The sun 



56 Under the Old Elms, 



never shone more brightly, the birds 
piped their sweetest notes, and the old 
elms swayed and nodded in the gentle 
breeze, as if to do their part in honor- 
ing her. 

This was the neighborhood of the 
scenes described in " Old-Town Folks ; " 
and the elms under whose shade the 
gathering was held might have whis- 
pered much about the quaint contem- 
poraries of Sam' Lawson, could they 
have told what had passed beneath 
them. 

The place of Mrs. Stowe in American 
letters was significantly indicated in the 
poems offered and the speeches made 
during these birthday exercises. The 
distinction of having given that power- 
ful book, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," to the 
world was never more charmingly em- 
phasized than on that memorable after- 



Under the Old Elms. 57 



noon. A ray of sunlight that came 
in through an opening in the tent il- 
lumined dear Mr. Whittier's face as he 
sat on the platform, and the people 
waited breathlessly to hear what he 
had to say, when all at once he stole 
silently out and left another to read 
his exquisite poem: — 

"Thrice welcome from the land of flowers 
And golden-fruited orange bowers 
To this sweet, green-turfed June of ours ! 
To her, who in our evil time 
Dragged into light the nation's crime, 
With strength beyond the strength of men, 
And, mightier than their sword, her pen; 
To her who world-wide entrance gave 
To the log cabin of the slave, 
Made all his wrongs and sorrows known, 
And all earth's languages his own ! — 
Welcome from each and all to her 
Whose Wooing of the Minister 
Revealed the warm heart of the man 
Beneath the creed-bound Puritan, 
And taught the kinship of the love 
Of man below and God above. 



58 Under the Old Elms. 



To her, whose vigorous pencil strokes 
Sketched into life her Oldtown Folks; 
Whose fireside stories, grave or gay, 
In quaint Sam Lawson's vagrant way, 
With old New England's flavor rife, 
Waifs from her rude idyllic life, 
Are racy as the legends old 
By Chaucer or Boccaccio told. 

Ah ! dearer than the praise that stirs 

The air to-day, our love is hers ! 

She needs no guarantee of fame 

Whose own is linked with Freedom's name. 

Long ages after ours shall keep 

Her memory living while we sleep; 

The waves that wash our gray coast lines, 

The winds that rock the Southern pines, 

Shall sing of her; the unending years 

Shall tell her tale in unborn ears. 

And when, with sins and follies past, 

Are numbered color-hate and caste, 

White, black, and red shall own as one, . 

The noblest work by woman done." 

And then came Dr. Holmes, who was 
greeted with a storm of applause, his 
face beaming with inimitable humor, in 
perfect contrast with the calm, sober 



Under the Old Elms. 59 



face of Mr. Whittier. His poem was 
full of witty allusions. 

If every tongue that speaks her praise 
For whom I shape my tinkling phrase 

Were summoned to the table, 
The vocal chorus that would meet 
Of mingling accents harsh or sweet 
From every land and tribe would beat 

The polyglots of Babel. 

Know her ! Who knows not Uncle Tom 
And her he learned his gospel from 

Has never heard of Moses; 
Full well the brave black hand we know 
That gave to freedom's grasp the hoe 
That killed the weed that used to grow 

Among the Southern roses. 

Sister, the holy maid does well 

Who counts her beads in convent cell, 

Where pale devotion lingers; 
But she who serves the sufferer's needs, 
Whose prayers are spelt in loving deeds, 
May trust the Lord will count her beads 

As well as human fingers. 

When Truth herself was Slavery's slave, 
Thy hand the prisoned suppliant gave 
The rainbow wings of fiction, 



6o Under the Old Elms. 



And Truth, who soared, descends to-day 
Bearing an angel's wreath away, 
Its lilies at thy feet to lay 

With heaven's own benediction. 



To close the festivities Mrs. Stowe 
came forward, the company rising and 
remaining standing in her honor, and 
applauding her most heartily. The 
sweet, gentle face, crowned with its 
locks of silver, the slightly bowed form 
trembling with the joy and emotion of 
this supreme moment, the group of 
expectant, loving faces around and 
about her, made a sight never to be 
forgotten. Mrs. Stowe closed her lit- 
tle speech by telling a story of an old 
colored man whom she knew at the 
South, who " owned an orange grove 
and a house, and heads of cattle and 
heads of horses, and heads of hens, and 
ten head of children," as he expressed 



Under the Old Elms, 61 



it ; and " they are all his own," said 
Mrs. Stowe, in her enthusiastic way. 

The whole company joined in Eliza- 
beth Stuart Phelps's wish for Mrs. 
Stowe : — 

" Oh, wait to make her blessed, happy world, 

To which she looketh onward ardently; 
Lie distant, distant far, ye streets of gold, 

Where up and down light-hearted spirits walk 
And wonder that they stay so long away; 

Be patient for her coming from our skies 
Who will love Heaven better keeping her, 

This only ask we : when from power to praise 
She moves and when from peace to joy, be hers 

To know she hath the life eternal, since 
Her own heart's dearest wish did meet her there ! " 

The band discoursed sweet music ; 
Mrs. Humphrey Allen's voice mingled 
with the bird-songs ; and the perfect day 
ended in a glorious sunset. 

It was truly an interesting spectacle 
to see standing about in groups under 
the elms, Whittier, Dr. Holmes, Mr. 



62 Under the Old Elms. 



and Mrs. E. P. Whipple, T. B. Aldrich, 
Louise Chandler Moulton, Dr. Lyman 
Abbott, Mr. and Mrs. James T. Fields, 
A. Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Stuart 
Phelps, Lucy Larcom, Henry Ward 
Beecher, Edward Beecher, Dr. Stowe, 
and dear Mrs. Stowe, the person in 
all the distinguished company most 
unconscious of fame and modest in her 
bearing. 

On the evening before the fete a 
large barge filled with pretty girls from 
Wellesley College drove up the avenue, 
and alighted under the window where 
Mrs. Stowe was sitting, and burst into 
sweet and heartfelt song, so that all the 
acres echoed with their music. 

The only unfavorable criticism con- 
cerning Mrs. Stowe's fete was from 
the pen of Henry Ward Beecher, her 



Under the Old Elms. 63 



brother. He wrote : " Mrs. Stowe s cel- 
ebration was very good ; but one 
marked exception is to be regretted. 
Not a colored man or woman was 
there ! Were none invited ? . . . Would 
it not have been worthy of the occasion 
if the Jubilee Singers could have been 
present, who were born in slavery, but 
who turned musical notes into bricks, 
and built one of the noblest colleges in 
the land — Fiske University, a castle 
built in the air and ot the air ! " 

Not long after the fete the Jubilee 
Singers came to " The Old Elms," and 
entertained us with their songs and 
dances ; they came with beaming faces 
and merry voices. When the singers 
left the house I expressed the hope that 
they had enjoyed the afternoon as 
much as I had. One tall, very black 
man, with his mouth stretched from ear 



64 Under the Old Elms, 



to ear, and his white teeth shining al- 
most across the lawn, replied, "Well, I 
reckon I could beat ye on that." 

To look upon the company of well- 
dressed, intelligent men and women, 
who had been a few months before re- 
garded as chattels, bought and sold, 
with no right to husband or wife or 
children, or even to their own soul, — 
to see them contented and happy, to 
listen to their pleasant voices and 
watch their graceful rhythmic motions, 
as they danced upon the lawn ; all this 
filled our hearts with joy, and made us 
realize that the long, dreadful months 
we had passed through during the war, 
when every home was turned into a 
hospital or a packing-house for the sol- 
diers, had not been in vain. The hall 
at "The Old Elms " was never without 



Under the Old Elms. 65 

boxes or barrels waiting to be filled 
with dainties for the soldiers ; with jel- 
lies, sweetmeats, under-clothing, fans, 
books, anything and everything that 
could be thought of for their comfort. 
No man or woman or child crossed the 
threshold without being reminded, that 
there was room for more in the waiting 
boxes, in those days when every house 
was a house of mourning, or of anxious 
expectancy about some absent member. 



66 Under the Old Elms. 



VI. 

Chief Justice Chase was one of 
the most charming visitors at " The 
Old Elms." He was full of inter- 
est in everything that pertained to 
the welfare of the country, and he 
talked with enthusiastic knowledge up- 
on every question that was before the 
people ; yet he was always ready to 
join in the sports of the young people, 
at the bowling-alley, or on the croquet 
ground. He was a man of magnifi- 
cent proportions, tall, and elegant in 
his bearing. When he was visiting 
us at one time, we invited Governor 
Bullock, who was then the executive 
of the State, to dine with him. As I 



Under the Old Elms, 67 



offered my escort to the chief justice 
to go to the dining-room, taking it 
for granted that the chief justice of 
the United States was a more impor- 
tant personage than a governor of a 
State, he whispered in my ear, "You 
have made a mistake ; the governor 
is always sovereign in his own State ; 
you should have escorted him to the 
dining-room." 

Of course I was grateful to my dis- 
tinguished guest, and chagrined at my 
own ignorance. The order of seating 
people at the dinner-table is a matter 
of great importance, I learned, among 
titled and official people. I once knew 
a senator in Washington who declined 
to go to the table because he was not 
given just the place he fancied his 
position entitled him to; and another, 
who took the seat allotted him, but 



68 Under the Old Elms. 



would not speak through the entire 
dinner. 

Mrs. Charles Francis Adams, whose 
husband represented us at the Court 
of St. James at a critical time during 
the war, when we were severely criti- 
cised and snubbed, said to me, after 
her return from London, " I never took 
a step, I never entered a room, without 
inquiring of some one who knew the 
etiquette of court circles ; for I wished 
my country should not be disgraced 
by any mistake of mine." Mrs. Adams 
was " to the manner born ; " she had 
had every advantage of wealth and cul- 
ture, of education and travel, and knew 
the importance of proper attention to 
form and ceremony in official circles. 

John Bright was held in such high 
estimation by all patriots in our coun- 



Under the Old Elms. 69 



try who were laboring for the aboli- 
tion of slavery, and was so in accord 
with us at the North during our strug- 
gles for emancipation, often express- 
ing a wish to meet the leaders in the 
conflict, especially our beloved Whit- 
tier, that we wished in every possible 
way to show our appreciation of his 
sympathy, and of his actual services 
in our behalf in England, where we 
had little affinity or even recognition. 
John Bright himself could not be per- 
suaded to cross the ocean, greatly as 
he desired to see our country of hope 
and promise ; but his eldest son (now 
a member of Parliament) came in his 
stead, and we were glad to do him 
honor for his father's sake. 

He accepted our invitation to visit 
"The Old Elms," and a right merry 
time we had of it. It so happened 



70 Under the Old Elms. 



there were a number of young ladies 
at the house ; and young Bright, being 
on pleasure intent, and not at all 
weighted with the responsibilities of 
state which oppressed his noble father, 
cared little whether the slaves were 
free or not, if only he could have 
a " jolly" time. 

He was a typical Englishman, hand- 
some, gay, and full of robust health. 
The house rang with the merriment 
of the young people, and the days were 
not long enough for their frolics. 
When night came they resorted to the 
bowling-alley, and played " skittles," 
as young Bright called the bowling, 
until eleven o'clock ; then on our put- 
ting out the lights and dismissing the 
boys (having mercy on the little fel- 
lows who had patiently set up the 
pins for three hours), he said, "I am 



Under the Old Elms. 71 

having an awfully jolly time; could 
we not have another round? I hope 
you do not retire early." 

Being plain country folk, and accus- 
tomed to sleep before the midnight 
hour, we were obliged to disappoint 
our guest; but it was well into the 
small hours of the morning before he 
went to his room. His visit has been 
a pleasant memory, and the young 
ladies at least will not forget it. He 
left us to make a tour through the 
country, but several times returned 
and amazed us with accounts of his 
adventures in the New World. 

The Rev. Newman Hall, of London, 
spent his first night in America under 
the elms. He was at a loss to know, 
when he retired for the night, if he 
could be sure of safety in a country 



72 Under the Old Elms. 



where there was no king or queen. 
He affected great ignorance of our 
customs in this new and benighted 
republic, and doubtless many of our 
ways were new and strange to him ; 
but I never felt quite sure that he 
was really as ignorant as he pretended 
to be when he asked if the water- 
melons we offered him " grew on trees," 
and begged to be informed "where 
the heat in the rooms came from," ask- 
ing that he might be taken to the 
cellar to see the source of the heat. 
He was more ignorant of our laws 
and customs than I should suppose 
it possible for any intelligent man to 
be who understood our language. He 
could not comprehend our system of 
public schools. It was difficult to 
make him understand where the work- 
ing people lived. " Surely," he said, 



Under the Old Elms. 73 



" people who work at day labor cannot 
live in the comfortable cottages we 
are passing as we drive." The Rev. 
Newman Hall spent some time at 
"The Old Elms," but he did not 
readily adapt himself to the customs 
of New England people. 

Principal Fairbain, of Mansfield Col- 
lege, Oxford, England, and Professor 
Henry Drummond, of world-wide fame, 
were among the guests who gave great 
pleasure to the dwellers under the 
elms. They were full of interest in 
the work which they came to accom- 
plish, and the pleasant impression they 
left behind them when they returned to 
their own country will never be forgot- 
ten. They are held in grateful remem- 
brance by all who had the pleasure of 
meeting them. 



74 Under the Old Elms. 



I shall never forget the beautiful pic- 
ture that Principal Fairbain made on 
the lawn under the elms with a com- 
pany of little girls grouped about him, — 
he, with his fascinating Scotch brogue 
and his typical Scotch face, talking to 
the girls who met there weekly to learn 
sewing, and to talk about good manners, 
and what best to do with their lives, 
and how they could make themselves 
useful, and how they might help others 
less favored than they were. Many of 
the children were of Scotch parentage, 
and they stood with wide-open eyes and 
ears to catch every word. It was inter- 
esting to listen to this wise, kindly man 
as he tried to adapt his language to the 
little children. 

One day we drove from "The Old 
Elms " to Concord that he might see 
the homes of Emerson, Alcott, and 



Under the Old Elms. 75 



Hawthorne and the quiet hillside of 
their last repose. It was most pleasant 
to take him to places of interest, and 
to show him anything peculiarly Amer- 
ican, because of his quick interest and 
cordial courtesy and ready comprehen- 
sion of our life. There seems to be a 
community of feeling between Ameri- 
cans and Scotchmen that is lacking 
many times with the English : this 
was eminently true of Principal Fair- 
bain, who seemed to enjoy every phase 
of American life. 

He was not disposed to criticise and 
carp at what he saw in our country of 
achievement and promise ; and he did 
not in the least agree with the distin- 
guished Englishman who visited us not 
long since, and pronounced America a 
very uninteresting place. 



76 Under the Old Elms. 



Professor Drummond captivated all 
hearts ; and his words led us to realize 
more than ever the beauty of this life, 
and the glories of the next, of which 
many who heard him said he gave them 
a foretaste. He taught those who lis- 
tened to him to follow that One 
Teacher, who among all philosophers 
of the world's history has associated 
learning with character, charity, peace, 
love, eternity — who said, " Learn of 
Me, and ye shall find rest to your 
souls." He said, "If I held truth cap- 
tive in my hand, I should open my hand 
and let it fly away in order that I might 
again pursue and capture it." 

Professor Drummond's delicate spir- 
itual face expressed his humane, lofty 
thoughts. It was a pleasure to look 
upon him as well as to listen to 
him. 



Under the Old Elms. 77 



VII. 

In the year 1877 a move was made 
to sell the Old South Meeting House, 
which stands at the head of Milk 
Street. There was a great uprising 
among the people, who wished to save 
it as a monument of the old time where 
so much relating to Revolutionary 
days had been enacted. Miss Susan 
Hale personated Madam Norton, who 
gave the land upon which the old 
church stands ; and for the purpose of 
raising money to swell the fund for the 
purchase of the church, she held a re- 
ception at "The Old Elms." The invi- 
tation is shown in fac simile (reduced) 
on the following page : — 



78 Under the Old Elms. 



Madam Mary Norton 

Has returned to Bofton, after long Abfence, to make In- 
quiry regarding the Garden which fhe gave for the Building 
of the 

Old South Meeting-Houfe. 

Madam Norton has received from divers Pens, Verfes and 
other Writings inftructing her in the Hiftory of the Meeting- 
Houfe, in the Years fince fhe left Bofton. 

She hopes for the honor of your Company at the Refidence 
of the 

Hon. William Claflin, Newtonville, 

to hear thefe Writings read, on 

Saturday Afternoon, October Sixth, Eighteen 
Hundred and Seventy-feven, 

at 4.00 o'clock, precisely. 
Thefe writings are by 

James Freeman Clarke, 
William Everett, 
James T. Fields, 
Edward Everett Hale, 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
Rev. S. F. Smith, D.D. 
Samuel M. Quiney, and others, 
and Madam Norton hopes that thefe Friends will, themfelves, 
honor her by reading what they have written. 

Mr. I. F. Kingfbury, Mrs. A. J. Rogers, Mrs. M. A. 
Cole, and Mr. J. W. Davis, have, at Madam Norton's requeft, 
kindly confented to fing, and Mrs. J. A. Waldo to play. 

Original Ballads are expected from Mr. Longfellow, and 
Mr. Whittier. 



Under the Old Elms, 79 



Many gathered to hear what Madam 
Norton had to say ; and here, as at 
many other places where she held 
forth, a considerable sum of money 
was raised to supplement Mrs. Mary 
Hemenway's munificent gift for the 
purchase of the meeting-house which 
had stood in the centre of Boston for 
more than a century. 

Mrs. Hemenway desired that this 
meeting-house around which clustered 
so many memories of other days, and 
which had been the scene of all those 
great uprisings which ended in our in- 
dependence, should be left as an object 
lesson of inspiration and patriotism to 
the younger generation. The meeting- 
house, which was crowned the " Sanc- 
tuary of Freedom," through these patri- 
otic gifts was saved to Boston ; and Mrs. 
Hemenway, one of the most remark- 



8o Under the Old Elms. 



able women of this century, had the 
satisfaction of seeing her work accom- 
plished. 

She originated and carried out many- 
plans for the advancement of the young 
people of our time, for their instruc- 
tion in patriotism, and for inspiring 
them with a love of country. By keep- 
ing before them constantly through lec- 
tures and lessons at what cost our 
liberties were bought, by providing 
means to improve their physical condi- 
tion, and by arousing in the people a 
desire to know something of pre-his- 
toric America through archaeological 
researches, she conferred a priceless 
boon on the rising generation. 

By her own efforts, and at her own 
expense, she unearthed a city in Ari- 
zona, two miles in extent, which is said 
by archaeologists to have been buried 



Under the Old Elms. Si 



thousands of years. She took from 
the buried city numberless treasures, 
which were pronounced by a congress 
of scientists in Berlin to be of the 
greatest value, proving our continent to 
be "not the New World," but perhaps 
the most ancient. Who else has done 
what Mrs. Hemenway has done, and 
to whom do we owe so much ? 

She sometimes drove from her coun- 
try place in Milton, and sat on the 
piazza under the shade of the elms ; and 
that she may have conceived there 
some of her wonderful schemes for the 
good of the world, and especially of our 
own country, renders all the sweeter 
the rustle of the leaves and the mur- 
muring of the brook, to which she lis- 
tened. Her kindly bearing, her noble 
response to everything proposed for the 
benefit of humanity, her hopeful atti- 



82 Under the Old Elms, 



tude towards the world, made her pres- 
ence and spirit never to be forgotten. 

Dr. Kirk, the eloquent preacher of 
Boston, came often to "The Old Elms " 
for rest and refreshment, and he always 
gave more than he took away. His con- 
versation was most inspiring and instruc- 
tive. He was proficient in all the graces 
and elegances of life ; and in his day 
no one excelled him in pulpit eloquence, 
or in those conversational gifts that 
made him sought by the best society. 

Pere Hyacinth, when he was in 
this country, was invited to meet Dr. 
Kirk; and several gentlemen, all of 
whom were supposed to be familiar 
with the French language, came to 
dine with the distinguished foreigner at 
my table. Each gentleman in turn tried 
to enter into conversation with Pere 



Under the Old Elms. 83 



Hyacinth, who could not speak or un- 
derstand one word of English. 

Dr. Kirk was the only person whose 
French was available for conversation, 
for the pronunciation of the other gen- 
tlemen was not what the accomplished 
stranger had been accustomed to. One 
of the guests, in his great desire to 
converse with Pere Hyacinth, said, " I 
will try Latin." But, alas ! his Latin 
was pronounced in accordance with the 
English system, and Pere Hyacinth's 
with the Continental ; and that attempt 
also failed. It may be imagined the 
dinner was not a great social success. 
Conversation dragged and grated like 
the keel of a boat upon a sand-bar in a 
river at low tide. But for Dr. Kirk's 
tact and perfect French, silence would 
have settled down upon the whole com- 
pany. 



84 Under the Old Elms. 



During Dr. Kirk's last years he was 
deprived of sight. His life had been 
spent in study, and his love of all beau- 
tiful things in nature had filled his 
lonely life (he was without wife or 
child) ; but at the last, when earthly 
objects were fading from his sight, 
he found perfect peace and comfort in 
his visions of the heavenly city, which 
were so real that he often said, " I do 
not care to see earthly scenes, for it 
would, I fear, interrupt my views of 
the celestial country." And so he 
went away; and "The Old Elms" 
mourned the loss of one who had loved 
its flowers and shaded paths, and made 
the home there dearer for his presence. 

Mr. Henry F. Durant, that rare man 
of consecrated genius and shrewd com- 
mon sense, was a close friend of Dr. 



Under the Old Elms. 85 



Kirk; and together those two devoted 
men often met at " The Old Elms " to 
consider how best Mr. Durant could 
use his large fortune to promote and 
advance the kingdom of the Lord Jesus 
Christ on earth. Mr. Durant had a 
beautiful boy, his only child, for whom 
he was preparing and adorning a fine 
estate, upon which he intended to build 
a family mansion. He was in the midst 
of life, being yet not forty years of age, 
and in the height of his fame, when his 
boy was attacked with that fell disease, 
diphtheria, and in one week was re- 
moved from his earthly sight forever. 

This crushing blow changed the 
whole current of his life ; during that 
week his hair turned white as snow ; he 
gave up the profession of law in which 
he had become renowned, and resolved 
that henceforth his life and his fortune 



86 Under the Old Elms. 



should be consecrated to God. For five 
years he labored and studied, going up 
and down through the country, consult- 
ing wise men and prominent educators 
as to the best way of using his fortune 
for the greatest good of mankind. 

At length, led as he fully believed by 
the Divine Spirit, he decided that to 
found an institution for the broadest 
Christian education of women was the 
wisest thing he could do ; hence he built 
and equipped Wellesley College, which 
stands to-day as a noble monument to 
his memory, though he forbade the use 
of his name in connection with it, say- 
ing always, "It is God's college, not 
mine." 

The college hall stands in the midst 
of the beautiful trees he had planted, 
and on the borders of the lake he had 
prepared for the home of his boy. It 



Under the Old Elms. 87 

is furnished with everything that is re- 
quired in the best institutions of learn- 
ing, with the most approved apparatus 
for scientific pursuits, with a library of 
nearly sixty thousand choice books, and 
an art building with a fine collection of 
paintings and statuary. This noble 
college, the largest in the world for 
women, and probably the most thor- 
oughly equipped for its purposes, has 
been for years one of the chief inter- 
ests of the dwellers at "The Old 
Elms," and the friends who gather 
there. There Mr. Durant often came 
to consider and mature his plans ; and 
there, later, came the bright young col- 
lege girls from every state in the Union 
to make the fields and meadows re- 
sound with their merry voices, to wan- 
der through the paths under the elms, 
and to gather wild flowers that grew 
beside the brook. 



88 Under the Old Elms. 



Mr. Durant lived only long enough 
to see the college well started, and to 
be assured that he had made no mis- 
take in the disposition of his fortune. 
The college was planned to accommo- 
date three hundred students. It has 
been enlarged year after year, until 
now nearly a thousand are scattered 
through its beautiful halls and cottages. 
Mrs. Durant has devoted her life to the 
interests of the college, and as far as 
possible has carried out her husband's 
wishes. 

Ex-President and Mrs. Hayes were 
among the friends who were most wel- 
come at the " Elms." President 
Hayes, with his quiet dignity and re- 
serve, when questioned, related his 
army experiences with great enthu- 
siasm. His tender interest in his sol- 



Under the Old Elms. 89 



diers impressed us with his warm, 
self-sacrificing heart. One incident of 
his army life is worth repeating if only 
as a practical lesson. 

" A terrible thunder-storm," said he, 
"occurred on a mountain-side where 
my troops were bivouacked. The light- 
ning flashed as I never saw it flash be- 
fore, and my men were terrified. Soon 
a report was brought to me that our 
provision wagons were struck and scat- 
tered to the four winds, and seven of 
our men were lying lifeless on the 
ground. I said, ' I will go to them ; I 
think we may restore them ! ' After 
working for hours upon what appeared 
to be their lifeless bodies, every one 
of them was brought to life. My re- 
peated experiences have convinced me," 
said Mr. Hayes, "that persons simply 
stunned by lightning may almost inva- 



90 Under the Old Elms, 



riably be brought to consciousness by 
persistent effort ; and I am convinced 
that many people have been buried 
alive who might have been saved if 
intelligent efforts had been applied to 
their resuscitation." 

Quiet and reserved usually, he was 
roused to great enthusiasm and elo- 
quence when he touched upon army 
life and experience. This seemed to 
have had far more interest for him than 
his presidential career. 

Dr. Peter Parker, of Chinese reputa- 
tion and fame, who built the first hos- 
pital in the Chinese Empire, and 
accomplished much in opening to the 
" Flowery Kingdom " the wonders of 
medical science, especially in the treat- 
ment of the eye, was a frequent visitor 
at "The Old Elms." Dr. Parker was 



Under the Old Elms, 91 

the first commissioner from this gov- 
ernment to China, and his name is held 
in great reverence by all enlightened 
Chinese. He acquired the Chinese 
language, which few Americans in his 
day had done ; and he had a better 
knowledge of Chinese manners and cus- 
toms, probably, than any other of our 
countrymen. His long residence in 
China made him familiar with the coun- 
try, and his conversation was most in- 
teresting and instructive. 



Under the Old Elms. 



VIII. 

As I look back, what varied forms 
and faces seen in that loved home 
gleam through the mists of years ! 
How many interesting people I recall, 
who at one time or another I have had 
the pleasure of greeting there! 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, with her 
intense nature and her sympathy with 
the suffering and sorrowing, whose bril- 
liant conversation captivated her list- 
teners ; General Armstrong, with his 
burning zeal to uplift the lowly ; Gen- 
eral Banks, in his commanding prime, 
the self-taught, eloquent man to whom, 
when, as Governor, he delivered an 
address at Harvard at the inauguration 



Under the Old Elms. 93 

of President Felton, Edward Everett 
said : " Harvard College has no hon- 
ors to bestow upon you, sir ; your 
presence is an honor to Harvard ; " 
Mrs. Robert C. Winthrop, a woman 
with the dignity of colonial days, and 
whom I especially recall as she stood 
one afternoon upon the piazza and urged 
that some syringa bushes which en- 
croached somewhat upon the huge 
trunk of one of the old trees might be 
cut down, so that its grand proportions 
should be at once revealed ; Madam 
Carmen Diaz, the wife of the president 
of Mexico, to whom, as we passed the 
green-house door, the gardener pre- 
sented a superb rose of a new variety 
just in bloom, — a rose which so suited 
her grace and rich Southern beauty 
that thenceforth we called it the Car- 
men Diaz rose ; Miss Emily Faithful, 



94 Under the Old Elms. 



whose generous proportions, strong, 
motherly face, and sweet voice were in 
harmony with her humane labors ; Miss 
Mary Carpenter, with her otherwise 
plain features illumined by the sympa- 
thetic soul that had enabled her to give 
such help to the unfortunate women of 
India ; Miss Alice Freeman, the gifted 
president of Wellesley College, through 
whose distinguished administration the 
institution rose to its true place among 
the universities of the country ; and 
many, many more, who came with their 
wisdom and enthusiasm, their cheer 
and mirth, to brighten the hours, and 
leave delightful memories. 

Lucy Larcom, the gentle, genial 
friend, loved the shade of the elms. 
She did not care to mingle with the 
world ; and always preferred some quiet 



Under the Old Elms. 95 

corner where she could commune with 
nature, where she could listen to the 
lowing of the cattle in the meadow and 
the song of the birds, where she could 
sit among the flowers and dream her 
dreams and make the verses that went 
home to so many hearts. She was full 
of gentle courtesy and kindly feeling 
toward everybody with whom she came 
in contact, and a little verse she wrote 
for a young girl in the family, who 
asked her autograph, showed the ex- 
quisite nature which could not refuse 
so small a request without pain. For 
some good reason, doubtless, she de- 
ferred writing the autograph until it 
was too late ; the young girl passed 
away from earth, and to the mother 
came the sweet tribute : — 

" She sent to ask a verse of me to keep. 
I promised, but delayed ; and now asleep 



96 Under the Old Elms, 



She lies, an ocean's aching width between 
Her mother's tears and her unwaking rest, 
Beneath the soft blue skies of Italy. 
Alas ! betwixt fulfilment and request 
There rolls a wider, more mysterious sea. 

Endless regret from smallest cause may grow. 
Is any failure to do kindness small? 

Since her I may not, thee I send my line 
As a stray leaf to lay upon her grave ! ' 

Edna Dean Proctor, with her 
strength and imagination, and loyalty 
to nature, her poetic genius and person- 
al charm, was an ever-welcome visitor. 
Pleasant were the hours when she 
would repeat for us some inspiring 
poem, or picture for us some rare scene 
at home or abroad. Our friends de- 
lighted in her tales of travel in Russia 
and in the Holy Land ; and Mr. Whit- 
tier used to say to her, " I do not need 
to undergo the fatigue of travel, for I 



Under the Old Elms. 97 



can see everything, when thee tells me 
about the countries thee has visited. I 
can see the rivers of Russia, and the 
mountains of Palestine, all before me, 
and it is far more pleasant to see them 
through thine eyes." 

Dr. Joseph Campbell, a native of 
Tennessee, who was connected with the 
Asylum for the Blind in South Boston, 
came often to " The Old Elms " as a 
friend and a teacher of music. We en- 
joyed his congenial companionship for 
several years ; and then, when his health 
failed from overwork, he was advised by 
physicians to cross the ocean. His 
first thought when he arrived in Eng- 
land was to look into the condition of 
the blind, and to study the methods 
employed for their education and ad- 
vancement. He found them very inad- 



98 Under the Old Elms. 



equate, and he set himself immediately 
at work to improve their condition. As 
the result of his untiring efforts, a Nor- 
mal College was built in upper Nor- 
wood, London, for the education of the 
blind. 

Dr. Campbell was a man of remark- 
able gifts. He had rare genius and 
consummate tact, and he succeeded at 
once in winning the favor of the Duke 
of Westminster and of Dr. Armitage, 
both of whom gave him moral and finan- 
cial support. His experiences in Eu- 
rope, as he related them at our fireside, 
were most interesting. Dr. Campbell 
told the story of refusing to take into 
his school a German prince who was 
blind. The parents of the prince, after 
looking all over Europe, decided that 
Dr. Campbell's school was the best for 
the education of the blind, and they 



Under the Old Elms. 99 



wished to place their son there ; but the 
Doctor informed them that he should 
be unable to accede to their wishes, for 
his institution was a republican institu- 
tion, conducted upon American princi- 
ples, and to receive a prince with his 
attendants would interfere with the 
management of the school and family. 
He was urged, but to no purpose. His 
dignified and persistent refusal to take 
the prince greatly surprised the prince's 
friends, who had supposed it would be 
regarded as an important card for the 
school to have for a pupil one of a royal 
family. 

When it was found that Dr. Camp- 
bell would not yield the point, the par- 
ents of the prince said, " If you will 
not take him as a prince, will you take 
him as a beggar ? He must come to 
your school." And thus he was re- 



ioo Under the Old Elms. 



ceived on the same footing as any waif 
taken from the slums of London. He 
remained several years in the institu- 
tion. 

Dr. Campbell is the only blind man 
who has ever ascended Mont Blanc ; 
and when asked why he undertook the 
perilous journey, his answer was, " To 
bring my school into notice. The Lon- 
don Times does not hesitate now to 
speak of my school, whereas before I 
ascended Mont Blanc, the only blind 
man who had ever accomplished this, it 
was difficult to get any space in that or 
any other prominent paper in London." 

A visit to Dr. Campbell's institution 
in upper Norwood, under the shadow of 
the Crystal Palace, would well repay 
any American ; for few of our country- 
men have ever accomplished more in 
England than this sightless man. 



Under the Old Elms, 101 



He went to England poor, blind, and 
friendless ; he now counts among his 
friends the Prince of Wales, the Duke 
of Westminster, and the princesses of 
the royal family. He is invited to take 
his pupils to sing and play before the 
Queen ; and his school is considered the 
best in Europe for the education of 
the blind. 

It was an interesting day when Mr. 
Campbell brought from the Institution 
in South Boston fifty blind children to 
see " The Old Elms ; " and no company 
of sight-seeing boys and girls ever en- 
joyed more in looking at the flowers 
and fruits of the green-houses, than did 
these sightless children, who, with their 
sensitive fingers and in spite of the 
"blackness of darkness," seemed to 
appreciate all the beauty of form and 
even of color, in the tiniest flower and 



io2 Under the Old Elms. 



the most delicate fern ; and measured 
the great elms by stretching their arms 
around them. They certainly enjoyed 
to the full all the beauty of flowers and 
trees, of brook and meadow — and what 
a merry company it was that drove 
down the avenue, singing as they went. 

It was the custom in the early days 
to hold educational conventions in every 
county of the State to discuss methods, 
and to introduce new and improved 
plans in all the small district schools. 
These conventions were conducted by 
the Secretary of the Board of Educa- 
tion, appointed by the Governor, and 
assisted by the wise educators that 
comprised the Board. Professor Agas- 
siz, Dr. Sears, and Professor Guyot, 
who afterward became famous in his 
particular line of study, — for his re- 



Under the Old Elms, 103 



searches in physical geography, — were 
all members of the Board of Education 
in Massachusetts. 

It fell to my lot to entertain the gen- 
tlemen for a week, when the meeting 
was held in our neighborhood ; and 
among the guests was Professor Agas- 
siz, a member of the School Board, 
whom to know was a liberal education. 
With his genial presence and fascinat- 
ing manner, he took every one captive ; 
and to this far-off day his visit is re- 
membered in our village as an honor. 
One little circumstance is so character- 
istic of him (and I wish never to forget 
it) that I will repeat it. There was a 
meeting called of ladies in Boston who 
were interested in promoting the best 
methods of education, to listen to an 
English gentleman who was somewhat 
renowned as a practical educator in his 



io4 Under the Old Elms. 



own country. His remarks and observa- 
tions were altogether from an English 
stand-point ; and he said, among other 
things which sounded strange to our 
republican ears, " I do not understand 
how you conduct your public schools. 
How do you know that your child will 
not be obliged to sit by a wash-wo- 
man's child or a blacksmith's child ? " 
When the gentleman had finished his 
speech, the ladies sat breathless in 
dumb amazement, wondering how best 
to reply to such un-American senti- 
ments. Professor Agassiz, a foreigner 
born, arose, and in his fascinating voice 
and convincing, persuasive manner, 
said : " The glory of our country is 
that we have no wash-woman's children 
or blacksmith's children, as such ; and 
all we have to fear is that the wash- 
woman's child will go ahead of our 



Under the Old Elms. 105 



children, and leave them in the back- 
ground." 

These words were like an electric 
shock, coming from this European, and 
testifying to the grandeur of American 
patriotism; and the unfortunate Eng- 
lishman looked wilted under this over- 
whelming idea of equality, while the 
ladies raised their heads in proud ap- 
preciation of their distinguished advo- 
cate, and were ready to embrace him. 

John B. Gough, the eloquent tem- 
perance advocate, spent many days 
at " The Old Elms," and with his wit 
and humor enlivened many an hour 
after returning from his lectures. Be- 
fore the lecture he was always "go- 
ing to fail," and "probably would 
have to be dragged from the platform 
in disgrace." This was his invari- 



io6 Under the Old Elms. 



able experience, though he lectured 
thousands of times, and always to the 
largest audiences. One could only en- 
dure the prelude by keeping in mind 
the postlude. 

On one occasion we had promised 
to accompany him to Norfolk, where 
he was going to speak. The idea took 
possession of him that his lecture would 
be a total failure, that he probably 
should not live to get through it, or 
if he did not die on the platform he 
should disgrace all his friends. He 
set up a fearful impromptu cough, and 
walked the floor in agony, saying to 
his wife, who was a pattern of patience 
and forbearance, " I know I shall die, 
Mary; just listen to my cough; how 
can I lecture with such a cough ? " 

We were all appalled ; for we knew 
great preparations had been made for 



Under the Old Elms, 107 



the lecture, and his condition was so 
much worse than usual, that we were 
at a loss to know what course to pur- 
sue ; but by dint of perseverance and 
coaxing we succeeded in getting him to 
the platform, where he gave one of the 
most brilliant of lectures to a crowded 
audience whose enthusiasm knew no 
bounds. His cough disappeared, and 
his spirits rose to the highest pitch, and 
he gave up all idea of dying. 

In the early days, lyceum lectures 
were common in the country villages, 
and the pleasure of entertaining the 
lecturers usually fell to me. When Hor- 
ace Greely came, he said, " I think I 
ought to have as much as twenty-five 
dollars for coming here from New 
York to lecture ; and if there are those 
who cannot afford to pay twenty-five 



io8 Under the Old Elms, 



cents entrance fee, it would be but a 
friendly act for you to present them 
with tickets." 

I well remember his peculiar impres- 
sive appearance, his massive head, blue 
eyes, and exquisitely fair skin, the light 
overcoat which he always wore, and the 
huge " arctics " which he would have 
worn to the platform if the committee- 
man in attendance had not suggested 
to him that he would be more comfort- 
able if he removed them — so intent 
was he upon his theme, and so forgetful 
of himself. His lectures were interest- 
ing, but not brilliant. When supper 
was finished, and some question was 
asked him regarding the condition of 
the country, he discoursed with such 
wide intelligence and wisdom, told such 
pithy anecdotes, and indulged in such 
choice reminiscences, that we listened 



Under the Old Elms. 109 



to him as if he had been a Mentor 
who knew all the springs of action, and 
could control the whole flow of affairs. 

Many strange visitors came to " The 
Old Elms," and among them once was 
a woman who addressed me thus : — 

" I have come to you, madam, as one 
who will understand my position, and 
appreciate the necessity of my case. I 
address a lady ; I also am a lady, and 
fit to associate with the best in the 
land ; but fate has compelled me to 
do something for a livelihood, and I 
have chosen the position of lady's com- 
panion as being best adapted to my re- 
fined taste and requirements, and, 
though I say it who should not, per- 
haps I am able to fill any position ; but, 
of course, it is quite necessary that I 
should make a suitable appearance, and 



no Under the Old Elms, 



I have, I must confess to you, no dress 
suitable for those occasions where a 
lady is expected to make a very digni- 
fied and graceful appearance. In short, 
I have no dress with a train ; and you 
know as well as I how much more a 
lady is respected who has a train to 
her dress, especially by the foreign per- 
suasion, that is, by the servants of a 
fine house, such as I am fitted to adorn. 
I have one dress which I think could 
be converted by an artistic dressmaker 
into a train. I feel competent myself 
to make a plain skirt, but I really do 
do not feel equal to the perfect adjust- 
ment of a train, and I have not the 
money to procure a skilled artist ; but 
knowing your sympathy with all who 
wish to make the most and best of 
themselves, I felt that it would be 
only a pleasure to you to let me 



Under the Old Elms. in 



have five dollars, which I think would 
enable me to do what is so desir- 
able." 

During this long harangue I had ex- 
perienced nearly every emotion of 
which the heart is capable ; but when 
she finished, indignation prevailed, and 
I exclaimed with considerable warmth, 
" I think you will gain much more re- 
spect by wearing a plain skirt than 
you will by appearing in a train which 
you have begged the money to pro- 
cure. I must decline your request." 

At this juncture my lady assumed 
quite a different attitude ; with a very 
lofty air, and in most contemptuous 
tones she said, " I see I am much mis- 
taken in the person I address. I 
thought I was addressing a Christian 
lady ;" and, slamming the door, she dis- 
appeared. 



ii2 Under the Old Elms. 



An interesting incident occurred in 
connection with one of Mr. Wilson's 
visits at "The Old Elms." A lady 
from a distance presented herself to me 
on a hot summer's day, when the vice- 
president was sojourning with us, and 
requested an interview. So great was 
the heat I had declined to see visitors ; 
but the lady urged her suit. She said 
she had come quite a distance in the 
cars, and her business was very impor- 
tant. Her appeal was so persistent 
that I could not resist ; and when I en- 
tered the parlor the lady arose, begged 
my pardon for interrupting me, and re- 
marked she thought the importance of 
her visit would justify the interview, 
even on such an afternoon as this. 
Then she introduced her subject : — 

" Madam, I believe you are a friend 
of the vice-president ? " 



Under the Old Elms. 113 



I replied : " Yes ; the vice-president 
is a friend of my husband." 

" You are aware, madam, that he is 
a man of powerful physique ; he has a 
very broad chest, and consequently re-, 
quires a great deal of air to properly! 
expand his lungs. My mind has been 
greatly exercised of late about his sur- 
roundings ; his own house is small, and 
you know, madam, his means are quite 
limited. The room he occupies is not 
large ; the ceiling is low ; and the air is 
not sufficient for a man of his lung 
capacity. It is very sad that he has no 
one to give him a welcoming smile 
when he returns to his home after his 
arduous duties ; and I have, madam, 
quite a large place and quite a fortune 
in my own right. My rooms are large 
and airy, and much better adapted to 
the wants of a man in his position than 



ii4 Under the Old Elms. 



those he now occupies. My fortune is 
considerable now, and will be larger 
when my mother passes away ; she is 
quite aged, and will not probably live 
long. You doubtless perceive, madam, 
by my conversation, that I am a lady of 
refinement and education, that I could 
adorn the high position I should take 
as the vice-president's wife ; and I have 
come to you feeling sure that you would 
appreciate my feeling, and would make 
known to the vice-president your im- 
pression of me and of my ability to 
grace any position. If I say it who 
should not, perhaps, I suppose there 
are few ladies in the country better 
fitted to adorn the position which 
I should take as his wife than I 
am. 

After a somewhat prolonged visit the 
lady bowed herself out. I was left to 



Under the Old Elms. 115 



meditate upon the strange experiences 
of life. 

A company of the most warlike In- 
dian chiefs from the far West was 
brought by the Indian Commissioner, 
appointed by the Government, to Bos- 
ton. In compliance with the request 
of Sitting Bull, Thunder Cloud, Red 
Jacket, and many more, who wished to 
see how the " chief " in Massachusetts 
lived, they were driven out to "The 
Old Elms," accompanied by their inter- 
preter and the dignified commissioners. 
They were all dressed in their blankets 
and feathers and beads and wampum. 
As they drove up the avenue in fine ba- 
rouches, and with prancing horses, they 
presented a very unusual and pictur- 
esque appearance ; but never by word 
or look did they betray the fact that 



n6 Under the Old Elms. 



they had not been accustomed to riding 
in barouches up long avenues of elms 
all their lives ; and when they were pre- 
sented to the hostess, a solemn nod of 
the head, a guttural grunt, was their 
only recognition. 

I was presented as " the white chief's 
squaw;" but they gave no sign of pleas- 
ure, and I was quite at a loss to know 
what next to do, when I was informed 
by the interpreter that they would not 
recognize me as " the great chief's 
squaw" unless I could show them some 
"pappooses;" "for," said he, "the In- 
dians believe that the Great Spirit will 
never smile upon a house where there 
are no " pappooses." 

Thus informed, the " pappooses " 
were called, and I armed myself with 
a child on either side and appeared be- 
fore them ; then, for the first time, they 



Under the Old Elms. 117 



smiled and saluted me in true Indian 
fashion, after which they made them- 
selves quite at home, apparently inter- 
ested in what they saw, but not in 
the least surprised, as it is contrary 
to their nature and etiquette to appear 
surprised at anything. 

When they were taken into the din- 
ing-room, where a table was spread 
with the usual dainties provided at an 
afternoon tea, they behaved with civil- 
ized propriety, but with more than civ- 
ilized appetites. After eating all that 
was offered, they squatted on the floor, 
unable to stand the strain longer. It 
was a time of uncommon novelty and 
interest ; and when some months later 
we read of scalpings and massacres 
carried on by our afternoon guests, we 
were grateful that the length of a con- 
tinent separated us from the visitors 



n8 Under the Old Elms, 



whom we had entertained in a most 
peaceful and friendly fashion, never 
dreaming they might like our scalps to 
ornament their beaded belts. 



Under the Old Elms, 119 



IX. 

One of the pleasant memories of 
" The Old Elms " is the fetes of lit- 
tle children which took place there 
almost every year. The children who 
had no green grass to play upon and 
no wild flowers to gather, used to come 
and revel in the stacks of new-mown 
hay, and gather buttercups and daisies 
with as much pleasure as though they 
had been Jacqueminots and carnations. 
Hundreds of children have frolicked 
in the shade of the elms ; and the 
thought that joy and pleasure were 
put into their cheerless lives even for 
a day made the trees and the flowers 
more dear to those who dwell there. 



i2o Under the Old Elms. 



Little sales were held under the 
trees year after year, in memory of 
the daughter of the house, who said 
to her young companions as she was 
leaving home to travel in Europe : 
" While we are separated, let us re- 
member each other in working for the 
Lord's poor. I am tired of Circles ; 
we will call ourselves ' The Charity 
Square.' I will gather things as I 
travel from place to place, and you 
can work here, and in the autumn 
have a fair for the Orphan's Home." 
Her plans were enthusiastically carried 
out by her young companions who had 
worked busily all through the sum- 
mer months, and her box of treasures 
came in time for the autumn sale. 
There was a fine display of dainty 
work, and pretty trinkets which sold 
as well for her sake as for the orphans'. 



Under the Old Elms. 121 



It came about that not far from the 
time of the little sale she passed from 
Rome to the " City that hath founda- 
tions ; " and the last news she received 
from " The Old Elms " (the place she 
loved above all earthly spots) was an 
account of the success of the fair for 
which she had labored, never for a mo- 
ment forgetting, wherever she went, 
to add something to the box which 
was to be sent home in the autumn 
to "The Charity Square." 

In memory of her, this little sale was 
repeated year after year under the old 
elms, until the young girls scattered 
to make new homes for themselves ; 
and thousands of dollars were added 
to the treasury of the Orphan's Home. 

Just as she was taking her flight 
from Italy to the Eternal City, a lit- 
tle Italian waif appeared on the even- 



i22 Under the Old Elms. 



ing of the sale (as though sent by 
Heaven), and asked protection. He 
was a tiny boy ; his great black eyes 
and his pathetic voice won the hearts 
of the young girls when he asked to 
play his fiddle for some supper, and 
said, "Nobody love me; nobody smile 
on me." The eyes of the girls filled with 
tears ; and with one voice they begged 
to take the little waif and give him 
some supper. I said, " What shall we do 
with him when the Fair is over ?" But 
the appealing eyes of the child and the 
pleading voices of the young girls pre- 
vailed ; and we took him in and placed 
him upon the flower table, where he 
was reminded of his own beautiful Italy, 
the land of flowers ; and the notes of 
his little fiddle attracted the visitors, 
so that as the evening wore on many 
friends gathered around him ; his pock- 



Under the Old Elms. 123 

ets were filled with pennies; and his 
eyes overflowed with joy. But the 
evening wore away, and the flowers 
faded, and the people were leaving one 
by one. What now was to become of 
the child? 

It was decided after much consulta- 
tion to place him in the Orphan's 
Home for which the girls were work- 
ing ; and to that Home on the following 
morning little Dino (for so we called 
him) was taken. As we entered the 
pleasant Home, Dino took a deliberate 
look around the sunny room, and then 
thrust his little brown chubby hand 
into the pocket of his trousers, and 
drew forth the pennies that were 
snugly tucked away in their depths, 
his black eyes fairly dancing with joy 
as he handed them to the superinten- 
dent, saying : " You give me home ; I 



i24 Under the Old Elms, 



give you my pennies. I was 'fraid I 
freeze to death." Dino remained in 
the Home five years, the delight of all 
the household. He often visited " The 
Old Elms," and reported from time 
to time progress in his lessons, and 
repeated Scripture texts and poetry 
which he thought would please me. 
At length he left the Home and took 
a place in the country where he could 
go to school, and earn his own living 
by doing the chores of a farmer. After 
some years Dino returned to "The Old 
Elms" dressed in the garb, and with 
the manners, of a gentleman. He had 
secured a situation where he was earn- 
ing good wages ; and he said modestly : 
" If I had not been cared for as I was, 
and instructed in that Christian Home, 
I should be a beggar now, as I was 
when I entered the Home." Dino 



Under the Old Elms. 125 



now has a pleasant home of his own, 
with a wife and children ; and he adorns 
the society in which he moves. 

The young girl for whom it was done 
had gone from Italy beyond our care 
and keeping ; and the little child had 
come from Italy to claim our love and 
watchful care. 

After it was all over, Dr. S. F. Smith 
sent the following affectionate tribute : 

" Is thy final rest more peaceful, 

Is thy sleep more sweet, dear child? 
Brought from Rome's gorgeous sepulchres 

Back to thy native wild? 
Or breathes the wind more gently 

Where the chestnut and the pine 
Above the tomb that holds thy dust 

Their clustering branches twine ? 

Thy footsteps trod the pathway 

Of grand, historic Rome, 
Thy gaze admiring rested 

On picture, church, and dome. 



126 Under the Old Elms. 



Why, yearning with a tender love 

Did thine eyes look back to see 
The elms around thy cherished home 

Where thy whole soul longed to be? 

Welcome again, fair sleeper; 

Peace to thy precious dust! 
Rest calmly with thy kindred 

Till the rising of the just. 
The winds shall sing above thee 

Where the chestnut and the pine 
In thy own dear native forests 

Their clustering branches twine ! " 

Winding up the avenue one sum- 
mer's day was seen a motley group of 
women and children. They came from 
the attics and cellars of North Street. 
Many of them had never seen the 
country since their childhood, and had 
never looked at the blue sky except 
through smoke and dust. Every face 
told the strange, sad story of empty, 
hopeless lives, of struggles and fail- 



Under the Old Elms. 127 



ures, of scanty clothing and insuf- 
ficient food. There was not one ex- 
pression of hope or cheer. It was in- 
teresting to watch their varied coun- 
tenances. Some were wildly excited 
at the sight of green grass and daisies 
and buttercups, and were almost like 
caged animals let loose ; and others 
seemed awed into silence, and sitting 
down under the elms, their sad eyes 
wandered over the meadows. They 
looked into the trees, and saw the shim- 
mering leaves and waving branches, 
and dreamed, perhaps, of their child- 
hood's home, and wondered if any- 
thing better than their dark cellars 
and crowded attics would ever come 
to them. Many of them said : " If 
heaven is anything like this, I should 
like to go there." One, in a desperate 
tone, exclaimed : " Christ must have put 



i28 Under the Old Elms. 



it into yer head to ask us here ; yer 
never could have thought of it yer- 
self ! " 

It is difficult for young people of this 
generation to conceive the excitement 
that prevailed as the question of the 
abolition of slavery grew in interest, 
and penetrated every hamlet. There 
was not a man or woman who was so 
ignorant or stupid as not to be moved 
either one way or the other in this mat- 
ter. It was discussed in the churches, 
in the post-office, in the village store, in 
the farmyards, at the corners of the 
streets, over the dish-washing in the 
kitchen ; families were separated, and 
friendships broken ; sons were alien- 
ated from their fathers, and churches 
broken up ; people on both sides used 
the most severe language ; we were told 



Under the Old Elms. 129 



by a lecturer that " our communion 
cloth was dripping with the blood of 
slaves." 

A woman appeared one day who said 
she wished to see me alone upon very 
important business. Taking her into a 
remote corner, and closing every door 
behind me, she informed me that she 
had in her house a runaway slave, a 
young girl, who had escaped from her 
master, and had been wandering about 
through forests and fields for many 
days. Her clothes, she said, were torn 
in tatters by the brambles and thorns 
through which she had made her way ; 
her shoes were almost dropping from 
her feet ; her hair was a mass of tan- 
gles ; and her flesh was so cut and 
bruised as almost to bring the tears to 
one's eyes. The woman told me that 
this poor girl was in such a state of ner- 



130 Under the Old Elms. 



vous excitement that I could not see 
her; for she suspected every one, and 
would burst into tears when a carriage 
passed in the street, thinking her mas- 
ter was in pursuit of her. . 

The woman who came to me with 
this strange story lived in a remote part 
of the town, in a lonely place, and I 
suggested that the runaway would be 
safer with me among more people. 

"Oh, no," she replied; "I wish to 
take her away to-night ; and knowing 
your interest in the slave, I have come 
to ask you to give me a suit of your 
husband's clothes that I may dress her 
in man's attire, and start with her for 
Canada, where the poor creature will be 
safe from her pursuers." 

Fired with excitement and interest, I 
did not consider the plausibility of the 
woman's story ; but gathered together a 



Under the Old Elms. 131 



wardrobe of my husband's best cloth- 
ing, — coat, trousers, boots, hat,, and 
everything pertaining to a man's ward- 
robe, — and taking a fast horse which 
nothing would have induced me to 
use on any less important occasion, I 
drove at full speed to the hiding-place 
of the hunted slave, so that no time 
might be lost in starting her for Can- 
ada, the only place of safety.- 

Reaching the house where the object 
of my search was supposed to be se- 
creted, I was told that I could not see 
her, for she would go into hysterics at 
the sight of any one. I believed it all ; 
and turning my excited, foam-flecked 
steed toward home, I must have reached 
there just about the time my informant, 
with her husband dressed in a fine suit 
of clothing provided for the runaway 
slave, started for Canada to evade the 



132 Under the Old Elms. 



law which she had trampled upon by 
hiding stolen goods. But scenes of 
real flight were not infrequent during 
the months preceding the war, and we 
were kept in a state of constant ex- 
citement. 

Strange footsteps were heard on the 
piazza one night, just as we were retir- 
ing ; and upon opening the door we be- 
held an object so forlorn, ragged, filthy, 
and black, as scarcely to resemble a 
human being, — a negro who said he 
had come for a night's lodging. We 
told him we would give him money to 
pay for his lodging at the hotel ; that 
we did not take lodgers. " But," he 
answered, " they will not let me lodge 
there ; they told me you was an aboli- 
tionist, and you would take me." We 
at once saw the joke, and knew it was 
being played upon us to test our princi- 



Under the Old Elms. 133 



pies ; so we said, " Come in, friend ; we 
will give you shelter." 

There was an encampment of soldiers 
in Readville, eight or nine miles distant 
from "The Old Elms;" and a son of 
one of our neighbors, who had been 
some time in camp, suddenly died there. 
He was brought to Newton for burial 
on a snowy, dismal day, and the soldiers 
detailed for the funeral had taken that 
long march through mud and slush ; and 
when they entered the church where 
the service was held, they were shiver- 
ing with cold. Nothing had been pro- 
vided for their refreshment, and they 
were faint and hungry. 

We invited them to go to " The Old 
Elms;" and a warmer welcome no com- 
pany ever had there than these hundred 
tired, foot-sore, bedraggled, mud-be- 



134 Under the Old Elms. 



spattered soldiers. Everything in the 
house that could be eaten was brought 
out ; hot coffee was prepared, and blaz- 
ing fires were lighted on all the hearths ; 
and food was gathered from our neigh- 
bors to supplement the lack. Thus 
warmed and fed, they tramped back to 
their cheerless tents to await the sum- 
mons to go to the battle-fields, from 
which many of them never returned. 

A little incident in the experience of 
the dwellers at "The Old Elms" is 
looked back upon with interest. It 
shows the changed condition of the 
country. Having some business con- 
nections with a house in a Southern 

city, Mr. C found it necessary to 

employ a slave, there being no other 
service available. When the master 
of the slave came for the wages of his 



Under the Old Elms. 135 

"chattel," the poor slave would take 
to the cellar, and hide behind barrels 
until his master's departure; and then 
on his knees, with the tears stream- 
ing down his black face, he would beg 
his employer to buy him. 

This went on for a while, until it 
could be endured no longer ; and the 
poor fellow was bought and given his 
liberty. When the business at the 

South was given up, and Mr. C 

came North to live, he was "held up " 
for the Massachusetts legislature by 
the so-called Free-soil party. The op- 
posing party — the Whigs — felt that 
the State would be in peril if the 
Free-soiler should be elected. 

Accordingly on the day of election, 
horses were driven from one end of the 
town to the other, until they were white 
with foam ; old men were routed from 



136 Under the Old Elms. 



their farms and out of their beds ; and 
every one who could cast a vote was 
dragged to the polls to prevent the dire 
calamity of having a man elected repre- 
sentative of Massachusetts, who had 
owned a slave, and called himself a 
Free-soiler. But the horses ran in vain ; 
and the Free-soil party gained the vic- 
tory. The State survived the shock; 
and Jack, the emancipated slave, lived a 
happy life with a wife and baby all his 
own. 

The memories clustering about " The 
Old Elms " are for the most part 
bright and glowing. The shadows 
only serve to tone the picture down, 
and give a natural relief. Such, for 
instance, is the following experience 
which once attended our annual hejira 
from the city to the country house. 



Under the Old Elms. 137 



We always affirmed that we never 
moved anything ; and that particular 
year, as my husband was in California, 
we wished to make the moving as easy 
as possible. When we packed up the 
few articles that we felt it was essen- 
tial to take with us, we found that 
they filled three large express wagons 
to their utmost capacity. 

We covered the furniture, closed the 
blinds, fastened the windows and doors, 
and said good-by to the warm and dusty 
city about one o'clock in the afternoon, 
and seated ourselves in the carriage, so 
packed with bundles and band-boxes, 
pictures and vases, clocks and orna- 
ments, and many little articles which 
could not be trusted to other hands, 
that we were reminded of a carriage- 
load of emigrants en route from the 
wharf to the Western prairies. 



138 Under the Old Elms. 



Giving the driver many charges to 
drive in such a way as to keep mirrors 
from breaking and vases from tipping ; 
and be sure not to bear against the 
picture which had been placed behind 
his back for safety ; and by no means 
to lose the basket which had been 
placed at his feet; and to avoid the 
stones in driving, so as not to dis- 
arrange the bandboxes inside ; we drew 
a long breath of relief, and started on 
our way. 

After a few moments I was suffi- 
ciently composed to fall into a pleas- 
ant reverie : Oh ! what a delicious 
rest awaits me in that quiet country 
home, where the grass is waving, and 
the birds are singing their sweetest 
spring songs, and chirping their little 
housekeeping affairs so lovingly that 
the very sound of their music will lull 



Under the Old Elms. 139 



me to sleep more sweet and restful 
than I have known for months in the 
noisy city ! 

Thus we dreamed till the horses 
trotted into the familiar avenue, and 
we turned our tired eyes for the an- 
ticipated rest — when, lo and behold! 
the green lawn of which we had been 
fondly dreaming was entirely over- 
flowed with the swollen brook, and 
where we looked for greenness we be- 
held something more like the parade- 
ground of a herd of swine. 

My heart sank within me. I called 
the farmer, and asked the cause of 
all this, and was informed that the 
late heavy rains had caused the brook 
to overflow, and that when the water 
had evaporated it would look better. 
I replied : — 

" I cannot wait for this process ; but 



140 Under the Old Elms. 



I wish you to start immediately and 
engage every man you can find, and 
every cart and horse in the village, 
and use them till enough gravel and 
loam have been drawn to fill the low 
ground beyond all contingencies of 
storm and rain, and then have the 
whole turfed." 

"But," said the farmer, "that would 
take a great deal of time, and more 
than an acre of turf, besides being 
a very great expense." 

I replied : " If it takes all the men 
in town, and all the gravel and loam off 
all the hills, and all the time till dooms- 
day, and all the money we possess, it 
must be done now." 

Accordingly, the next morning a line 
of carts and horses were seen wending 
their unhurried way to the scene of my 
disappointment. In my heart I spurred 



Under the Old Elms. 141 



them on with sharper spurs than ever 
gallant rider used upon his steed, but 
to little purpose. A glance upon the 
upper lawn betrayed to me the fact 
that the prolonged cold weather had 
so far kept back vegetation that there 
was scarcely an appearance of green- 
ness anywhere. The grass was yet 
quite brown. In order to stimulate 
the growth, I told the gardener to use 
some patent fertilizer which my hus- 
band had purchased of a travelling 
pedler whose business it was to de- 
ceive the very elect ; accordingly, the 
workmen were sent to sprinkle the dust 
over the reluctant grass. After urging 
each individual spear to do its best, and 
finding it heeded neither my words nor 
the patent fertilizer, I inquired the 
cause, and was told that wherever the 
wonderful patent fertilizer had touched, 



142 Under the Old Elms, 



it had burned to brownness the strug- 
gling grass. 

Just here I took a long breath, and 
in time to listen to the call, "What 
are we to do, mum ? The hydraulics 
is out of order, and the cistern is 
nearly empty. There is no water in 
the stable. The plants are suffering 
in the greenhouse. The boiler is likely 
to explode in the house. What is to 
be done ? " 

" Go at once for the plumbers," I 
said, " and have the rams attended to." 

The plumbers arrive, — one to work, 
the other to look on ; and after two 
days of investigation it was ascertained 
that nobody knew what was the matter, 
and we had to be supplied with water 
by carting it from a neighboring brook. 
The laundress, on being told that she 
must be very careful of the water, re- 



Under the Old Elms. 143 



plied : " Indeed, mum, I have not used 
a quart of water for all me washing 
to-day, and shure." 

As the shades of evening gathered 
round us, we thought for a little sea- 
son to forget the outdoor troubles. We 
ordered the gas lighted ; and with a 
sigh of relief took up the evening paper 
to read the news of the day, when all 
at once the gas began to dance up 
and down with a jerk and a twitch 
which made reading quite impossible. 
Only one resort was left to me ; and 
I retired to my sleeping apartment to 
seek repose for the night. Upon open- 
ing the door, such an odor met my 
nasal organs that I was obliged to re- 
treat forthwith. At dawn of day a 
messenger was despatched post-haste 
for a gas-man, that the gas-pipes might 
be overhauled ; and for a carpenter to 



i44 Under the Old Elms. 



investigate the nauseous odor in my 
room. The difficulty was so deep- 
seated that it was found necessary to 
have the floor removed. Then a mason 
had to be sent for to remove the plas- 
tering, and a furnace-man to take down 
the flue which came in the way. 

Three separate times this pleasant 
little operation was performed before 
the cause of offence was discovered 
in the form of a huge rat, who had 
chosen that quiet retreat back of my 
closet wall to breathe out his life 
sweetly there ; sweet, I trust, to him, 
but, alas ! anything but sweet to me. 
When this was over, the stableman 
came, with a woe-begone expression, 
saying, "One of the horses is lame, 
mum. What is to be done ? " 

" Go at once," I said, "for the horse- 
doctor." 



Under the Old Elms. 145 



This important personage arrived ; 
and after a long and learned dis- 
course upon the nature of horse dis- 
eases in general, and of the lame foot 
in question, told me that a carpen- 
ter must prepare a box for the horse 
to stand in. Again the carpenter was 
sent for, and the necessary box pre- 
pared ; and, as I was obliged to visit 
the horse somewhat frequently to see 
that the treatment was properly ad- 
ministered, I discovered that the stable 
and outbuildings were in a condition 
more befitting a drunken frontiersman 
than a respectable gentleman's country- 
seat. I stationed myself at the stable 
door, and delivered an oration, the pur- 
port of which was that those cobwebs 
must be removed, that rubbish dis- 
posed of, and the stable and yard made 
decent at once. 



146 Under the Old Elms. 



A day or two later I discovered that 
my orders had not been heeded ; and I 
took my stand in the barnyard, and 
gave my personal attention to the re- 
moval of the cobwebs and the rubbish 
in general. This done, it seemed neces- 
sary that the house and outbuilding 
should be painted. Six men were em- 
ployed two weeks in this operation ; 
and when it was within two days of 
completion the painters proposed to 
take a little vacation, in reply to which 
proposition I calmly remarked: "You 
will finish the work now, or take your 
leave, never to ret urn.' ; 

After about three weeks the lawn 
and the water, the rams and the gas- 
pipes, the stables and the outhouses, 
the flower-houses and the graperies, 
the cows and the horses, the painters 
and the carpenters, the masons and 



Under the Old Elms. 147 



the farmers, the gardeners and the 
laborers, the coachman and his assis- 
tant, were all in running order, except 
that the horses were suffering for want 
of use. And on a fine June evening 
I thought I would take a little drive 
for the purpose of exercising one of 
them. 

As I was driving down the mill hill, 
with a strange driver, the dancing, pran- 
cing animal slipped off his whole head- 
dress, bridle, halter, and all ; and by a 
far more rapid movement than usual, I 
found myself walking double-quick time 
toward home, leaving the man and 
horse to follow the best they could. 
Indeed, I was only too thankful to 
escape with whole bones. 

By this time summer guests were ex- 
pected ; and, wishing my place to pre- 
sent a pleasant appearance, I ordered 



148 Under the Old Elms. 



the walks and paths put in order, and 
the trimming-scissors and lawn-mowers 
used about the borders and around 
the little ponds. As I looked from 
my window to see if the work was 
properly done, I discovered the water 
of the pond in front of the house, 
which is usually clear as glass, entirely 
covered with what appeared like a 
green, slimy substance. I summoned 
the gardener, and asked for an ex- 
planation. 

" I sent a man," he said, " to trim 
the short grass, mum, who was unac- 
customed to the work, and it all went 
onto the water." 

"Very well," I replied, calmly to 
all appearance, but full of smothered 
wrath, " send the same man to skim 
the pond until every spear of grass 
has been removed." 



Under the Old Elms. 149 



I had set my heart upon offering 
some very nice Jersey butter of home 
make to my guests. I sat down to 
the table with a complacent air, and 
offered my butter, which was pleasing 
enough to the eye, but, alas ! as bitter 
as gall to the taste ; and the Jersey 
cream, of which I had boasted, curdled 
when I poured the coffee upon it, as 
did my blood at the sight of it. Thus 
ended the first month of my country 
rest. 

The years that have gone with light- 
est touch over the elms have weighed 
heavily upon many of those who were 
accustomed to gather beneath them ; 
and, one by one, how large a number of 
these have passed to the land unseen ! 
Yet wherever I am, I have only to close 
my eyes to hear again the murmur of 



150 Under the Old Elms, 



winds, and the songs of birds among 
their boughs ; and to see once more on 
the cool piazzas they overspread, or in 
the winding walks under their shade, 
the faces and forms of the friends I was 
wont to welcome there, or of the occa- 
sional guests whose visits lent bright- 
ness to the days. With the trees are 
linked hallowed associations, the joys of 
friendship, the charm of social inter- 
course ; and while life lasts these 
blended memories will be ineffaceable 
and dear. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




